Broken Body Broken Soul
by lolmak
Summary: Events before and after Wally becoming Sorcerer Supreme, doing a complete 180 of his previous thoughts on magic. Maybe it's not so bad after all. Set during Season one. Spitfire. Rated T for Violence and some dark themes. Magic!Wally.
1. Broken Body Broken Soul

**Broken Body Broken Soul**

**by ~lolmak**

**None of the Characters are owned by me but are owned by the DC universe**

"One more mission I have nothing to do in", Wally thought. "Perfect". Why didn't Kaldur see his full potential as a member on the team? He could just bust in there and get all the bad guys before they knew what hit them.

"Kid Flash, Focus!" Kaldur's voice sounded in his ear. He always seemed to know when Wally was distracted even when they weren't linked telepathically. "You are on guard duty in case anything goes wrong on the mission" Kaldur stated. "You have to be…" "On the lookout in case there is something that could hurt us, which there isn't" Wally finished. He heard this gig before and he wasn't taking any crap about watching the teams back. It never happened yet to any team member that they were put as guards and he had never seen any villain that would willingly attack a group of six heroes at the same time. It just didn't happen.

"Stay…" Kaldur started to say. "Linked" Wally finished again. He could hear Kaldur growl into his mike before he switched off. "There goes the last conversation I have for the hour" Wally growled.

"Unless someone decides to stay" he heard a voice from his left. Artemis… it had to be her. Wally was in no mood to argue with her because at the moment he just wanted to hit something.

"Getting lonely?" Artemis teased.  
>"No". He answered untruthfully<br>"You sure?"  
>"Quite sure" Wally retorted.<p>

Artemis came up to him and asked "Wonder why they put you and only you on guard duty?"  
>Not waiting for him to answer she continued. "It's because you mess up all our missions and make us all have to go and save you."<p>

"Well you're one to talk" Wally shot back.  
>"Oh?" Artemis sweetly replied. Wally blushed and quickly looked away.<p>

No matter how annoying, conceited or selfish she could be, Wally dug her. And he was pretty sure that even though they argued all the time she would eventually catch on.

"What about that time in the desert?" Wally asked.  
>"What about it?" Artemis asked as if she didn't remember. "How I carried you across the desert in my arms for about 20 miles to get you out of the sun, to keep you hydrated." Artemis paused, she had never heard about this particular detail before.<p>

Wally continued. "And what's more is you never said thank you, and talked about how your dad wanted to get you to kill me." Artemis instinctively reached at the nape of her neck where a thin scar lay. Wally knew he had struck a nerve.

But he also saw that he hurt her, but he wanted to win one of their arguments just once, so he said "And I wouldn't doubt that you'd follow in his footsteps, no matter where they go."

He heard something whizzing towards his head. He tried to avoid it but even he wasn't fast enough. The slap knocked him over and saw an explosion of red in his vision.  
>His eyes cleared and saw something he had never thought he would ever see in his life. Artemis crying.<br>"You are such a jerk Wally West and I hope I never have to see you again" Artemis stormed off with tears streaming down her face. Wally won. But he was not happy. Not one bit.

Wally was still thinking about their fight and what a jerk he was when 5 minutes later he heard Artemis scream in the distance.  
>"Artemis!" He yelled and sped off towards the direction of her voice.<p>

Wally came to an abandoned warehouse that looked to be 50 years overdue for demolition. But he noticed none of these things. The only thing on his mind was Artemis.  
>"How could I be so stupid!" Wally roared at himself. He was supposed to make sure that everyone's backs were covered and that included Artemis. The girl he didn't know whether to love or hate. But he failed her. But he would rescue her no matter what it took.<p>

He pushed on the main door to the warehouse and slowly walked in. It was dark and couldn't see a thing. He heard a voice low and menacing. "Little hero wants to defeat the sportsmaster? Well it won't end well will it?" Wally tried to find the source of the voice but it seemed to bounce all over the walls.

He couldn't tell which direction to go to and if he would try to use his speed to find the sportsmaster, he'd probably end up tripping over something in the dark. So, he went slowly. He inched through the building jumping at every noise he heard, till he came to a lit up room. Artemis sat in the middle, bound and unconscious. But the worst thing was the sportsmaster holding a knife to her throat.

Wally instinctively moved forward.

"Not another step towards my daughter hero, or she gets it" Shouted the masked man.  
>"NO!" A single thought flashed through his mind "It can't be!"<br>"Don't believe me? Don't know who your little spy is?" The man asked him.  
>Though Wally was initially in denial, the truth of the words sunk in. "Why?" Wally asked the man. "Why did she do this?"<p>

The sportsmaster smiled. "Because she had no choice."

"You aren't making any sense!" Wally yelled "Why would she betray us?"  
>The sportsmaster smiled psychotically. "Otherwise her mother dies…. "<p>

"Ahhh… love." He twirled the knife around his finger. "Makes you do stupid things, don't it?" Wally looked at Artemis's bruised face, her hair and finally the scar on her neck. He knew that deep inside he didn't hate her, but the other way around "Whatever it takes" Wally said to himself silently.

"Let me make a deal with you" Wally told the sportsmaster.  
>"I'll hear it out kid but you're dealing with the sportsmaster here, I'm not some poor old man who will go for whatever offer you make." The sportsmaster laughed. "Whatever deals I do make kid, I make sure I win."<p>

"Then you should like this one" Wally said, his voice considerably higher in contrast with the sportsmaster's commanding voice.  
>"Don't know 'bout that but I'll hear ya out kid."<p>

30 MIN LATER  
>Artemis stirred. Her head hurt like crazy and she probably had a concussion. All she remembered was Wally's words, how they cut into her.<br>Her running from him. Trying to find a place in which she could be alone.

A Voice.

"Time to go home tigress"

Something smashing the back of her skull.

Then black.

She remembered fading in and out of consciousness.

Her father hitting her on her cheek.

The enclosed poorly lit room.

Snatched pieces of conversation.

"Mother", "Home", "Mine", "Forever"

She was in the hands of the sportsmaster. Her Father.

But Artemis couldn't hear any of the noises that were present in the warehouse. Artemis tentatively opened one eye. She was outside bound to a chair. There was a small TV that started to play just as soon as she woke up. It was a camera recording of Wally, her and her dad.

Seeing Wally again, on tape or in person made her angry with everything he did, everything he said. She was about to try and destroy the TV, when Wally spoke up.  
>"Let me make a deal with you"<p>

"I'll hear it out kid but you're dealing with the sportsmaster here, I'm not some poor old man who will go for whatever offer you make." Her father laughed. "Whatever deals I do make kid, I make sure I win."  
>"Then you should like this one" Wally said. He stood there fear on his face<br>"Don't know 'bout that but I'll hear ya out kid."

Artemis looked at the TV and mouthed don't.  
>Wally swallowed and said "You let Artemis go…" The sportsmaster laughed. "Why? If you already know she's the traitor." Wally looked at her still body with such tenderness that she almost didn't recognize him. "She's my friend." He stated it with conviction.<br>Her father straightened up. "Fine! What if I let her go? What's in it for me?"

"Well you wouldn't use her as a punching bag" Wally swallowed and said "You'd use me."  
>The screen went dead for a moment. Then in the top corner the words LIVE STREAM flashed in red before she heard the sound of her father's voice "Still enjoying it? Kid Flash" He said the last two words with as much malice as he could muster. There were two more muffled thuds and the sound of Wally grunting" there was a slight pause.<p>

"Well I'm done beating you with my fists speedster" the sportsmaster smiled and went to a table next to him. Artemis heard the clinking of two metal objects hitting each other. "Now you get to choose!" He pulled Wally off the floor to look him in the eye.  
>Artemis gasped. Wally had bruises covering most of his face. He had cuts everywhere as well and his nose looked broken.<p>

Her father pulled Wally off the floor he showed him the two objects in his hand. "So, what'll it be? The wrench?" sportsmaster hit him with the wrench in his hand. "Or the crowbar?" CRACK! Wally gasped. Sportsmaster just smiled. "Ah broken rib? You'll get over it" and whacked him again. With each blow Artemis screamed even more. There were tears streaming down her face. "WALLY!" The Sportsmaster kept beating Wally till he lay still and stopped making noises.

The sportsmaster looked at the camera. "Artemis! That!" he pointed at the young hero sprawled on the floor, "Is you're doing." there was blood pooling underneath Wally and any signs of life seemed to be absent.

"He is the reason that you can be alive. Cause he put his on stake for you." Her father yelled into the camera. "I could have killed you!" he smiled, "probably would have". He then laughed "But this was definitely more fun."

"Well he kept his end of the deal, so I'll keep mine" Her father slung a coat over his shoulder. I'll activate the homing beacon next to your chair so your 'team' can find you. You're free to go as you wish Artemis, but we both know that in the end you will be back with me. Such is the way of the world." Sportsmaster clicked a remote in his hand and a box next to her started flashing. "Wait." Her father got an idea. "Until your 'friends' show up, I'll give you front row seats to the show. He swung the camera to focus on Wally's body. "Have fun." He smiled at the camera. "Even if you do manage to save him from death… what makes you think he would want to be with you?" and with that he exited the room.

A sob welled up in her throat. Wally. He wasn't as bad as I thought he was. He could be a jerk at times but I was no different to him. If we had met differently where would we be now? Wally. Artemis couldn't hold it in any longer. There was no longer a tough girl that was a cool, confident expert archer. All there was left was a shred of hope he might still be alive. Because all she had now was a broken heart and a broken body.


	2. Heartbeat

**Heartbeat**

by ~lolmak

None of the Characters are owned by me but are owned by the DC universe

"I'll make a deal with you"

"Punching Bag…. Use me"

"Beating you with my fists speedster"

"Enjoying it?"

LAUGHING

"CLANG"

WHACK

"CLANG"

WHACK

"CLANG…"

"STOPPP!" Wally bolted upright but immediately fell back to the cold hard floor.  
>"Where…. Am I?" he whispered in a low tone. To answer him, Silence. Wally tried to move but pain shot up every part of his body. "Well there goes that idea" his subconscious told him. Wally tried to shuffle slightly in order to be able to look around and take in his surroundings. This proved very hard for him for it seemed he didn't have an uninjured portion of his body left. But the craziest part was he couldn't remember all the details.<p>

Wall-man, you really messed it up this time…. Didn't you? Wally didn't know why, but he felt compelled to answer himself. "Well I…." He stopped. His voice sounded like someone rubbed it down with sandpaper and to top it off it hurt to speak. His voice felt raw as if he'd been screaming all day.

Wait…. Have I? Everything felt so damn blurry. Wait, First things first… Where am I? He tried thinking back, back to the mountain, where Batman was…. "Wait… was that today?" Wally's subconscious asked him "Yes. Wait no. maybe? Argh!"

Wally lay there for a few minutes till everything came flooding back to him. Even though he was in pain he stumbled to his feet "Artemis!" Wally looked around and leaned against the table that was used by the sportsmaster. The sportsmaster, her father "Her…. SHE WAS THE SPY!" Wally yelled though is hurt his chest. Hell it hurt everywhere, but he was too angry to notice. "SHE WAS IT, She was the spy…." Wally stopped. It was really starting to hurt everywhere…. Inside and out. "Did I mean what I said to her?" His mind went back to what happened.

"Why? If you already know she's the traitor." The sportsmaster jeered at him. Wally looked at Artemis; he remembered every fight that they had, every time his words made hurt and indignation flash over her face. Of course these moments wouldn't last very long before they would be at each other's throats again. He had tried to convince himself that he cared nothing for her, but seeing her lying there unconscious because of his stupidity, his mistake, his fault, made him think of the times that weren't so bad.

Artemis…. The selfish Artemis His mind shot back, The Artemis that believes that you are a dumb piece of trash. The Artemis that could be beautiful, funny, sweet and commanding…. "Argh!"

He tried to deny it even to himself but it wasn't working. "She's my friend." He stated to the sportsmaster. There was no doubt left in Wally`s mind. She is my friend, this is my fault and I will make this right no matter what it takes.

So here he was, locked in a room that he didn't have the strength to escape. He could never bust out with his body in this condition. Wally looked around him and noticed a huge pool of blood on the floor and was pretty sure he knew where it came from. The room started to spin around him; he reached to grab something, anything to steady himself…. But everything was too far away. Wally didn't have the strength to stay upright, and  
>collapsed to the cement floor.<p>

The team had arrived at the warehouse 5 minutes after they found Artemis screaming and crying hysterically. There was a TV nearby that lay in shreds, but Artemis was still bond to a chair that was bolted to the floor. Superboy ripped through the chains that bound her to the seat.

"Where is he Artemis?" Kaldur asked tentatively. She opened her mouth to answer but the pain was still inside her, raw and tearing. The horror and the shock still fresh on her mind. Another sob burst out of her throat.

"Megan," Kaldur said slowly, "Find out what is needed." Megan stood there unmoving "But you said…" "I said do it Megan!" with more force than he intended. When he saw the hurt flash on her face, Kaldur softened his tone. "There is something important we must know and Artemis is in no condition to answer our questions." Something had gone terribly wrong, that he knew. But what exactly happened, he was fearful to find out.

Megan nodded and closed her eyes and reached her thoughts towards Artemis's mind.  
>"Megan, what happened?" Kaldur asked watching intently. A single tear rolled down Megan's cheek… A few moments later she withdrew.<p>

"Megan we have to know what…" Megan snapped into reality "Bio-ship, fast!" The ship shimmered out of its camouflage mode and landed. "Get Artemis in the ship!" Megan told Superboy, and gestured for everyone to get on. Megan started programming their course.

Kaldur grabbed her hand. "Megan, what did you see?" The Martian paused for a moment and bowed her head "Pain" she said, "Terrible pain."

Crash!

The team blasted through the front entrance of the warehouse. Without missing a beat Robin fired two flares into the air illuminating the dark interior. The team still hadn't learned the exact details of what happened, but judging by the expressions on Kaldur's face after he learned what had transpired, chances were that it was nothing good. Superboy was carrying Artemis who had insisted that she come. She wouldn't give up on the idea no matter how Kaldur tried to reason with her.

"There" Megan pointed to a locked room in the far end of the building. The advantage of going through memories was that you knew all the possible details, not ones poorly described by people. Judging by Artemis's memories… it was the place.

They all ran to the far end of the warehouse and stopped outside the door. "Megan, do you sense him?" Kaldur asked. "Megan closed her eyes and scanned the room, "he's there but…" Superboy wasted no time. He ripped the metal door off its hinges and flung it to the side.  
>Robin stepped into the dark room and heard a slight splash, as if he had stepped into a puddle. Silently, with his arms trembling he struck another flare. The room had a wooden table that contain an open toolbox. Beside it lay a crowbar and on the ground beside it lay a wrench. Both the tools were covered in blood. Then he saw Wally.<p>

Wally's normally yellow costume was stained an orange colour and then Robin saw what he had stepped into, a pool of blood. Megan started to weep immediately and Artemis stood there in shock. Wasting no time Robin bent down and started checking his vital signs, something, anything that would signify that he was alive.

But nothing

Kaldur stood there with disbelief on his features when Robin stood up. "Nothing… no heartbeat, no pulse… nothing."

Robin usually was the contained one, the one that would calm down the team when they lost it. "I don't know what to do…. I have no idea. I HAVE NO IDEA!" Robin kicked the table with the tool chest breaking it in half, spilling the tools everywhere. "When I get my hands on the bastard that did this!"

Kaldur looked at Robin destroying whatever things were in the room that were in reach. "ROBIN ENOUGH!" he shouted with as much force as he could muster. Kaldur glanced at the team who all bore similar expressions to Robin's. "There is one thing I must try to do that could save him."

Kaldur knelt beside the still body. His eel tattoos started to glow a bright blue, and electricity crackled at his fingers. When he couldn't absorb any more, he thrust his hands onto Wally's chest. The body just gave a slight twitch but otherwise lay still. Again and again Kaldur tried to start Wally's heart but the results were the same. Kaldur was finally stopped by Superboy who pulled him off the body. "Couldn't save him." He murmured. He paused when Megan put a hand on his shoulder.

They sat there for a time and then Kaldur reached into his vest and pulled out a golden medallion imprinted with the Atlantian coat of arms. He laid it on the chest of Wally and whispered the verse "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. "The team could tell that the medal meant a lot to him. But to all of them Wally mattered more.

Artemis stepped forward and dropped to her knees. She had long since exhausted her tears, but her grief was still ever present. "You shouldn't have done that" she whispered. "That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Kent Nelson stood there with a smile on his face. "You see? And to think you doubted the fact that you were made out for each other." Wally looked on sadly, they were standing right beside his body and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't touch Artemis, or get her to hear him. "Well I guess I'll be going on to meet Inza… I'll say hi though." The look on the youth's face looked heartbroken.

Kent Nelson looked at him and grinned. "Not yet you're not."  
>Wally turned around his face shining "You mean…?" "Yup" Kent Nelson cupped his hand to the ear and said, "I think I hear your heart beat."<p> 


	3. Fear

**Fear**

by ~lolmak

None of the Characters are owned by me but are owned by the DC universe

Artemis stood up and backed away from the body. Her heart ached like never before. Life had shown and taken away Wally, and she sobbed knowing it was her fault. She was the reason Wally had followed her; She was the reason that her dad had killed him. And there was no restart button, just game over.

The rest of the team stood there faces scrunched up in a variety of emotions. Fear, Anger, Sadness.

She felt them all and it hurt.

"Team come in." Came the voice of Batman through their earpieces. "Come in team!" Robin looked at all of them and slowly pressed a finger to his communicator.

"Team here…" His voice broke part way and a sob burst from his throat.

There was silence on the other end for a while. "Who was it?" When they remained silent he tried again "Who is it?" Batman yelled through their coms

"It….. It was…."

Cough

Artemis froze and slowly turned around. She saw Wally's body convulse and cough again. She rushed over to him and felt his pulse. It was there but weak. She saw his chest start to rise and fall. He was alive!

Her team looked at her expectantly not sure what had happened. She turned towards them. Though Wally was alive, there was a good chance he wouldn't make it. "No "She couldn't allow herself to think such thoughts. "He's breathing, but he won't be for long unless he gets medical attention."

Robin stood there with an expression of disbelief written on his face. "But I checked three times and got nothing?" He paused; he wanted to believe his friend was back but didn't want to get his hopes up unnecessarily. Robin rushed over to his friend's body and felt his heart beating beneath his trembling fingertips.

"He's alive! Get him to the ship!" Robin grimaced. He had seen his fair share of injuries and had experienced many of his own. But he was unsure if anyone, even a certain speedster with enhanced healing could withstand such abuse. "Let him live" he thought fearfully "Please let him live."

The bio-ship came out of its camouflage mode and landed beside the warehouse. A minute later, the ship took off in the direction of Mount Justice. Robin re-opened communications between him and Batman.

"There better be a good reason…" Batman started to say, but Robin quickly cut him off. "Batman, we have Wally on board the bio-ship. He's in bad condition and will need immediate medical care at base."

"There was a slight pause and Batman replied to him. "We are prepared to bring him into immediate surgery, Batman out." The line then went dead.

The ship flew steadily and all the while Megan muttered "Faster, faster!"

Wally's breath became laboured again and every time he took in a breath there was a wheezing sound. He was still unconscious but grimaced every few seconds. Artemis felt his Wally's hands; they were freezing while the rest of his body was hot with fever. His skin was pale…. too pale. "Please make it Wally." Artemis whispered to him. She could never forgive herself for what happened. Never.

Looming ahead of them was Mount Justice. Though the sun was setting and the harbour was in its entire splendor, no one noticed, no one gave it a second thought. Each moment brought them all closer to despair, closer to a near insanity. No one spoke, no one moved; it was as stressful as it ever would be.

The cargo bay doors started to grind open at a pace that would glorify a snail. All of a sudden they blasted open as if some angry giant decided that demolition was well overdue for the specific area. Behind the cargo doors floated the famous Martian Man-Hunter his arms outstretched, a scowl disguising the fear and worry he held inside. He felt emotions in the young team that once mirrored his own in the multiple losses he had sustained in the years. He had learned to get over such instances else he would be unfit to command. But they were young, ruled and controlled by their emotions.

"Weren't there six of them?" He noticed in alarm when he could only sense the five. He scanned the ship again and this time barely detected the small glimmer of life held within a still body. "Batman, they have arrived in the cargo bay." He silently communed with Gotham's' hero. Batman affirmed and strode into the cargo storage bay. "J'onn, levitate him to the medical bay. Try not to move him as much as you can."

The Flash zoomed over to his nephew who was now suspended in mid-air by J'onn's telepathic power. "Is… Is he….?" He started to say but was assured by the Martian "No. But he is very weak." The Flash looked like he was punched in the gut. "Will he…?" "That remains to be discovered."

The Flash's features became hard and a deadly tone entered his voice. "How did this happen? I am going kill the guy who did this." The usual energetic joyful mood of the speedster was gone replaced by one of his rare rages. When this happened, no one wanted to be on the receiving end. In reality the speedster was one of the most powerful heroes but chose to hide behind a mask of comedy and oblivion.

"The surgery room is ready sir" a man came up to the heroes. "My name is Dr. Brown and this is my assistant Dr. Ford." He said gesturing to a woman standing behind him. "We are ready, but I need to check the patient to know what injuries we are dealing with."

Flash nodded grimly "Do what you have to." His expression softened "Save him doc… please, you're the only one who can."

Dr. Brown looked at him. "I'll do what I can." He then proceeded to prod the levitating body and relaying his results to Dr. Ford who jotted everything down onto a clipboard. "Broken right arm, shattered wrist, cuts and bruises all over, collapsed lung, dislocated ankle and internal bleeding all over by the looks of it." Dr. Brown concluded grimly.

"The rest I can only find out during the operation. Bring him to the table." He told The Martian Man-Hunter. He was listened to without question because everyone was on edge, even people who had suffered the worst of injuries.

There was a large crowd huddled beside the door to the surgery room until finally Superman cleared them away to give the surgeons space.  
>But Flash would not budge. "You can't make me go!"<p>

"Flash…."

"NO!" Flash yelled. "It's my fault! I roped him into this! I put him into harm's way! If I had never agreed to let him be my partner, this would have never have happened!" A tear rolled down his cheek. "And I know the extent of my abilities and I know that I would have trouble… A lot of trouble, to live through what he's going through. And I'm at my peak!"

Flash felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Batman of all people coming to comfort him. "He's strong….. He'll make it." Flash sat down his head in his hands. "What will I do if he doesn't?"


	4. Magic

The scene in the room would almost be comical if the situation wasn't so serious.

Various superheroes were sprawled across the room in various positions. Some asleep, others just sitting there and the Flash pacing back and forth so fast that he was wearing a decent sized hole in the floor. A woman with scarlet hair sat near him wringing her hands.

Batman was there brooding as usual, and the young justice team just stood silent with their respective mentors wearing blank expressions.

They were doing what everyone else was doing... Waiting.

Waiting for news, waiting to see how their teammate was doing.

It wasn't like waiting for Santa to come down the chimney or how any speedster waited for pizza to arrive, because then it would be called anticipation. This however was bordering despair as no one had spoken for the past two hours.

Dr. Brown observed this along with the other surgeons who were pushing her to give the status report to the hero populous. All the tests had been run and finished ten minutes ago and the rest of the time was spent between surgeons to discuss how best to break the news to them.

Dr. Brown wished to God that it wasn't her job the report, but she had drawn the short straw out of all the doctors.

When Dr. Brown was finally pushed into the room, every person immediately bolted up out of their seats. She felt a gust of wind and was immediately bombarded by questions from the Flash who was speaking at an unintelligible rate. Others in the room voiced similar sentiments.

"Flash calm down" said the Dark Knight. He grumbled as there was no definite way to control Flash in such a situation short of knocking him out.

The Martian Manhunter floated into the room.

"What news do you have?" he asked tentatively.

"There's good news and bad news." Dr. Brown warily said looking at the superheroes crowded around her desperately trying to not be overwhelmed.

Batman seeing this ordered that she be given room to speak.

Dr. Brown swallowed the lump in her throat. "The good news is that Kid Flash is expected to make a full recovery..." The room went dead silent.

"And the bad news?" Flash asked his eyes mirroring the fear held by everyone in the room.

"Kid Flash is in a coma."

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

How long could he keep this up? Wally thought as he dodged another red blast by the enraged lord of chaos.

"HOLD STILL!" Klarion shrieked as he shot small balls of fire towards Wally who avoided them with seconds to spare.

This had been going on for an hour as Klarion had transported his soul to the mental plane and proceeded to take his revenge on the kid who had foiled his plans for world domination.

Klarion smiled. All he would have to do was to crush Kid Flash's soul in the mental plane and the kid's body would never wake up. It had been relatively easy to make the brat's body believe that it needed to go into temporary hibernation.

All he had to do then was transport the soul to his location in the mental plane and voila. Instant revenge.

A massive red blast tore up the ground in front of Kid Flash who swerved to avoid it. All of a sudden Wally's foot caught onto a small rock that stuck about an inch from the ground. Wally lost his footing and slid to a stop.

Kid Flash ached everywhere. He had been skimmed by Klarion's magic more times than he would care to count. But now seeing he was on the ground with a twisted ankle and powerful magician bent on revenge coming closer, he was running out of options.

Klarion shot him a twisted smile and floated over. "Is this all the mighty flash kid has to offer?" his palm started to glow red.

"It's Kid Flash!"

"Face it kid, you're just a copy, a knock-off of the real thing. You can't fight for your life and you're nothing without that helmet of yours." The fire in his palm grew bigger. "Maybe you should have kept the helmet on. Because face it kid all you did was allow an old geezer to die. Some kind of hero you are."

The ball of fire grew even bigger, and without warning sprung from the witch-boy's hand.

"Tell the old man I said hel..." His words were cut off when all of a sudden a barrier that glowed a golden colour appeared in front of Wally shielding him from the red blast.

The change in the witch-boy's demeanour was instant and a hateful expression immediately befell his features.

"NO FAIR!" he shrieked.

A voice resounded in Wally's head "Now how do you manage to get yourself in these situations Kid?" and a golden sphere enveloped him, similar to the one that had been used to save him with Kent Nelson.

A flash of light appeared next to him and eventually took the form of the old man himself.

"Wait! How? I thought..."

"Ya I'm bound to the helmet, and I brought him with me." Kent Nelson said gesturing to the golden helm in his hand. "Listen close kid, I'd like talk and exchange pleasantries, but there isn't much time."

Wally looked at his surroundings. Everything around him in the mental plane was moving in slow motion. Klarion stood there with an angered expression on his face, slowly mouthing incoherent words.

"What happened?"

Kent Nelson smiled. "Well, in order for us to speak I used my magic to be able to get in this state. Whatever we're going to talk about now is happening in the span of a few seconds. I used a time slow spell, and your natural speed, allows you to keep up with me."

"Well I'm whelmed." Wally managed to sputter out.

"It seems that your best friends daily butchering of the English language is rubbing off on you kid." The old man said shooting him a smile. "But that's beside the point. Klarion has found a way to transport your soul out of your body to this plane."

"Seeing he is not on Earth, he doesn't require his familiar to maintain his presence here."

"So we can't just blast the cat like last time?" Wally joked.

"That's what would be an ideal situation, but sadly no. Klarion has a grip on your soul and you won't be able to return to your normal state unless you are able to defeat him."

"Why can't you and Dr. Fate take care of him?" Wally yelled. It wasn't fair. How could something go so bad? His life seemed to just go from bad, to worse.

"Sorry kid, that's a no-can-do. Transporting ourselves to this plane extinguished our magical reservoirs of energy. Lucky for you though, Klarion has expended a lot of his energy transporting you here and exacting his revenge."

"You have a chance if you... No." The former Dr. Fate shook his head "it's not plausible."

"Wait! What were you going to say?" Wally asked, he was ready to take any opportunity to get out of his situation.

The old man replied. "Well as you have only been running around dodging his blasts, it means that you haven't even touched on your magical reservoir..."

Wally froze. "Wait you don't mean..."

The old man just grinned. "Yup. You're becoming an honorary magician if you make it out of this alive."

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Ten minutes wasn`t nearly enough time for Wally to process everything he was taught about the arcane arts, but it would have to do. He was taught basic shield spells, and small blasts. It was all Wally could do to stop himself from ripping his hair in frustration. He was to defeat a Lord of Chaos with nothing but an old man cheering him on, and a helmet that couldn`t finish the job the he was expected to do. It was hopeless.

"Kid, Focus!" Magic required concentration as told time and time again, but Wally couldn't concentrate knowing that in any given moment, the shield around him would melt away, and he would be alone. He would have to be cool and calculating if he wanted to survive.

Wally sighed. _This sounds like a job for Rob. He would have learned it two seconds flat, and then be calculating how to use it for his advantage. He should be the one doing this not me. I'm not the one for this... I'm not –_

"Enough!" the voice of Nabu thundered in his head.

"It was fate that you were chosen to put on the helmet, it was destiny that you refused!" The voice continued as Wally cringed at the sudden intrusion of his thoughts. "YOU were chosen!" The voice became softer. "It was neither your friend Robin nor Superboy nor all the others that were there. You were the one that came and helped sway the growing tide of evil and disorder. And here now you stand willing to believe beyond what is seen in the lessons of science."

"I'm not going to be your puppet, Nabu if that's what you're saying." Wally stated with conviction. "I would rather die being me, than having no control of my life forever after."

The voice paused. "That is your choice child and I cannot do anything to change that..."

"I now see that though you are one very suitable for carrying on my mantle... it is not to be."

"What do I do then? What can I do" Wally asked hysteria entering his voice. In a few moments he was expected to defeat a psychotic, power crazed meta-human with a few simple spells and words of good luck that would be meaningless as he would be blasted to pieces. He was not ready.

Wally was jolted out of his thought process by the powerful entity.

"I have searched your heart Wallace Rudolph West and have browsed your memories." Wally paused, unsure of what to expect. "You intrigue me child, what are your reasons for your decision of being a hero?"

Wally's initial answer would have been that he would be like his uncle Barry, but the more he thought, the more he realized it was because he believed in doing right and standing against evil and he relayed that back to the Lord of Order.

After a moment of silence Nabu spoke again. "I have chosen to give you the blessing of Nabu."

"I can only bestow it on one living mortal per time and the previous owner of this blessing has passed onto the plane beyond planes." Dr. Fate paused to let his words sink in. "Though we may not be very similar Wallace, we both fight for the same cause. This ancient blessing will help you as a magician giving you more magical potential and capability as well as a permanent link to me whenever you may require my assistance or advice."

Wally's eyes narrowed. "So I will have full control of my body at all times?"

The answer was quick and informative. "Yes."

"Then do it."

"Repeat after me then." The mask told him.

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"It is done." Nabu finally said after Wally recited his oath word for word.

"Now embrace your fate, embrace your future, and embrace your destiny!"

The bubble shattered and a bright light engulfed Wally. It slowly faded leaving him alone with no sight of the two magicians. The light lingered on his ankle healing it completely before blinking out of existence. All he had now was the will to survive and a blessing.

"Better than nothing I suppose."

Klarion's brow had been furled. But then as the last of the golden magic faded away a smile slowly slid over his features.

Wally had just stood to his feet when he immediately had to duck out the way as a giant sword glowing a deep shade of crimson attempted to decapitate his head.

"Kid, I don't know what happened to you over there, but it is only delaying the inevitable." Klarion stated satisfaction clearly displayed in his nasally voice and demeanour.

"Now stay still!"

Klarion turned his palms upward and was surrounded by a triangle of red glyphs. They slowly started to glow and formed two flames that appeared in both of his hands. The witch boy shot Wally a twisted smile as he spun sending a small tornado his way and threw the two energy balls into it. The raging whirlwind burst into flames and tripled in size.

"_Well it's now or never." _Wally reasoned

Wally cleared his mind of all things and concentrated on shooting a beam of yellow that parted the raging inferno in two with only a few seconds to spare. The two sections of the whirlwind spun for a few more meters until they vanished.

Klarion stood there mouth agape, all hints of a smile gone.

Wally grinned at this. It was his turn.

Spreading his palms out, Wally shot multiple golden blasts that landed multiple hits along Klarion's mid-section. They weren't designed to cause any substantial damage, but would put as much strain as possible on Klarion's magical energy, hopefully enough to drain it completely.

The Lord of Chaos childishly stuck out his tongue and screeched an inaudible "NO FAIR!" as he flung a multitude of rocks that bombarded Kid Flash from all directions.

With no direction to go but forward, Wally sped into the midst of the deadly projectiles dodging the bulk of them with athletic precision honed to perfection from his time as a superhero. All the while he had to dodge whatever was being shot at him by the pale skinned magician.

"Give it up kid! You stand no chance!" Klarion shouted sporting his twisted smile. "And when you lose..." His fingertips glowed red once more and shot out bolts of energy at the speedster. "I'm going to make it last long."

Throughout all this, Wally stayed continually focused on dodging the multitude of attacks devised by the enraged sorcerer that ranged from lightning bolts to small elemental demons raised from a pile of seemingly harmless rocks.

But the more Wally dodged and the more he countered the witch-boy's spells, the more desperate the Lord of Chaos seemed to get. Slowly the fiery aura that had originally surrounded the horned-haired maniac was flickering and slowly dimmed to a glow.

Needless to say, by then all the taunts and insults that Klarion had been shooting his way since the start of their battle had stopped.

An inhumane growl tore up Klarion's throat and the Witch-boy took a more aggressive stance. Anger emanated off him in waves and was unleashed through a blast of fire coming out of his mouth.

"_No denying magic is real now Wal-man."_ Wally told himself as dodged the blast and fired ray after ray into the flickering shield of his opponent. He had noticed that his spells were getting weaker as well due to all the times he put up a shield against the superior magic wielded by Klarion. But the evil sorcerer's magic was under a much greater strain than his.

But even then, Wally had to end the fight, preferably sooner than later. Wally gathered a large amount of energy in both of his palms and combined them to make a beam that could rival one of Dr. Fate's or Klarion's.

Wally broke into a run directly behind his magic blast waiting for the opportune moment to attack. Klarion raised the ground in front of him making a crude shield of dirt just in time to protect himself.

The blast demolished the barrier in a massive spray of dust, and before Klarion could notice, Wally dashed in through the gap he made and delivered a massive blow to the witch-boy's head. The Lord of Chaos flopped to the ground and took a hard fall.

Through the dust that was thrown into the air from the scuffle, Klarion could make the faint outline of Wally West slowly making his way towards him.

"I'll teach that brat a lesson!" Klarion exclaimed and pointed his palm at the speedster.

Nothing happened.

In frustration Klarion tried again and again to attack Wally but couldn't. The only logical explanation would be that he was out of juice.

By then Wally had finished his leisurely walk to the Lord of Chaos, his jaw set in determination. His palms began to glow a golden shade and looked the witch-boy into the eyes to see fear radiated in them.

"Next time Witch-boy..." Wally spat.

"Stay the Fuck out of my head!" and fired.

And then black.

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Murmuring voices.

"He looks like he's waking up guys!"

He heard the faint scuffling of feet.

Wally cracked open his eyes to see Robin grinning at him with tears in his eyes. Their eyes met

...

"Hey." Wally rasped out.

Immediately was surrounded by a chorus of voices each stating how worried they had been and expressing their joy.

Megan assured him she had baked cookies, Robin with his infectious laughter, Kaldur apologizing, Superboy doing his Superboy emotion thing.

The door opened again and uncle Barry and his aunt Iris rushed in filled with so much emotion that it was kind of embarrassing... not that Wally didn't mind.

And then there was Artemis who wouldn't look him in the eyes. Finally when the laughter and merriment died down she came and sat on the edge of his bed. Wally shot everyone a look that clearly showed he wanted to see Artemis alone. The heroes in the room tripped over one another in their haste to get to the door muttering various excuses about previous engagements and obligations.

Then there was silence. Wally sat up on his bed to see a tear roll down Artemis's cheek. She opened her mouth to speak. "Wally I-" and was cut off abruptly as Wally captured her lips with his. They stayed like this for a few seconds before Wally gently pulled away. "I'd do it again for you babe." He said and winked. Artemis slowly smiled and then it turned to a smirk.

A blush crept to Wally's cheeks "Umm Arty... I... I was thinking that maybe when I heal up a bit... you and I could go out somewhere?"

I'd like that Baywatch, but you know that won't change the fact I'll kick your but every practice that we'll have when you're better." Artemis said with a joy on her face.

Wally smiled "Jerk."

Artemis replied "Likewise Wallace." and walked out of the room.

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(Meanwhile just outside the room)

"Superboy! I'm right aren't I?" Robin asked the clone who was listening to the conversation occurring within. When the clone nodded Robin let out a wild cackle and ran to multiple members of the justice league who eventually handed him money. The scowls grew as Robin walked around the room collecting money. Once he made a full circle he returned to see Conner slowly tiptoeing away from him.

Robin smirked and jumped in front of him. "Don't you think I forgot our little bet Conner, and as I remember it, you have to do whatever I tell you for the day." An evil smirk beset his features; this is going to be good.

"How'd you know they would kiss today though?" The clone asked incuriously.

Robin winked. "Magic."

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(Back inside the room to Wally)

Artemis had just left and Wally amused himself by using a spell he learned from Mr. Nelson and listening to his friends argue and celebrate.

He felt himself start to drift off when he heard Conner ask "How'd you know they would kiss today though?" Wally could imagine the look on his face. Betting against Rob was never a sane idea in any universe or plane.

Robin paused for a second before nonchalantly replying. "Magic."

At this Wally smiled.

_Oh you have no idea._

And fell asleep.


	5. New Paths

Wally zoomed across the cave, his arms spinning the wheels on his temporary wheel chair as fast as he could. It was the closest thing he had to speed in his condition and he relished every moment of it. "Wish I could go faster though..." he mumbled silently.

He heard a mechanical whir and turned to see Robin in his own wheelchair complete with upgrades. It brought back memories of when they would do similar things and race with chairs even before they entered into the hero community.

Wally screeched to a stop and his face lit up as Robin came towards him. "Race?"

Robin smirked. "This is so on."

Wally looked at his smoking tires that were slowly melting off the rim of his chair. "Uh Rob? Can you ask Bats for another pair of tires?" Robin groaned "Dude, he is so not going to be whelmed that you spent five pairs in one day." Wally's face fell. Robin immediately felt guilty; he was talking to a speedster here. Slow was never on the agenda and really what were a few tires worth? "I'll try and get you a pair though."Wally's demeanour immediately went to the better and Robin started progressing to where he knew Bruce would be. He heard a large crash behind him and spun around to see Wally sitting in a pile of assorted metal pieces that used to be his wheel chair.

"Scratch that Rob, a new chair would be nice" Robin sighed _"Not whelmed at all."_

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When Wally had made sure that Robin had left he reopened the link in his mind. "So that was the spell that takes things apart, so what puts them together again?" Wally asked Nabu and his current host Zatara that he had telepathically linked within his mind.

"There is a way to immediately reverse the effects of simplification spell, but putting something together is much more complex as sometimes you may not have any idea of what the parts originally made up." Nabu stated. "If you had the blueprints to an object, your spell will cause all the parts to immediately fall into their proper place. If not, then the spell will try combining the parts randomly until the correct configuration is found or you run out of energy."

"I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the energy bit" Wally admitted. It was hard to keep up with Nabu and Zatara as sometimes they spoke of some things as if Wally should have been familiar with it. Sadly in most cases he didn't. But luckily the two magicians didn't seem to mind as Nabu readily showed him how to get stronger and how to cast spells easier.

Nabu had seemed to get over his anger as he had gotten a host, but every time that he spoke with Zatara he felt guilty. Zatara should be training his daughter, not him. But the elder magician assured him that it was the way fate had played out (**A/N totally a pun :P)** and told him not to feel guilty. But the lingering feeling was still there.

"I miss the old man." Wally thought woefully. But the promise made between Kent Nelson and the magical deity had been kept. He had been reunited with Inza and Nabu had a host. But it didn't mean that he couldn't miss him.

"There are two types of energy in your body" Zatara told him returning his thoughts back to the subject. Nabu continued the train of thought "These energies manifest in different parts of your being, your body and the other in your subconscious."

Fate's Chosen continued "As you know the more that you run, the more you tire correct?" Wally nodded. "So if you run and your physical energy runs out, when you do magic, your magical reservoir depletes as well"

"Is there any way to convert the two?" Wally inquired.

"It is very dangerous for a magician experienced or not to do so, as when they convert their physical energy into magical, they at the same time convert themselves into energy as well. This tends to be very explosive, highly destructive and not to mention direct suicide. The last time it happened was in London and it started the great fire almost burning the entire city to the ground." Nabu paused to let his words take effect. "Needless to say it hasn't happened in a long time and we plan to keep it that way."

This routine had been going on for quite a while now. Wally was learning more than he ever thought he would and he found it exhilarating that he could move by floating, turn completely invisible (unlike Megan's camouflage), heal himself, breath underwater, change his appearance as well as all manner of spells to be used in combat.

Wally progressed to the point where he could cast many spells with ease and had recently mastered teleportation using Nabu's given method. But the only problem was that he had practice in secret. In a way Wally wanted to tell his friends about his new prowess in the mystic arts, but doing so would be admitting that he had been wrong about magic in general.

"It's just that they'll overreact and good old Arty will be there to rub it in my face." Wally mused silently. Even though they were on good terms, they still had their fair share of disagreements.

On the other note, Nabu advised it to be kept under covers as they were still unsure of the possibility of a mole on the team. It would be better to have the element of surprise in one battle than having the enemy prepared for both speed and magic ahead of time.

Wally amused himself by changing his facial features; turning his hair blond and his eyes gold, tanning his skin and experimenting with different faces he could use. He was jolted out of his daydreaming by Robin who was running behind a brand new wheelchair.

Wally's features immediately shifted back to normal on his silent command.

Robin skid to a stop when he was close enough to Wally."Batman says this is the last pair for today as well as the only other wheelchair you're going to get."

Wally grinned mischievously, "So how many do I get tomorrow?"

Robin rolled his eyes as he helped Wally from the floor and into the new set of wheels. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Once Wally was fairly comfortable, Robin found himself smiling "You were saying something about a race earlier?"

Wally grinned "You're on!"

"Team, report to the briefing room." Resounded Batman's voice over the cave's system of speakers.

"Rain check?"

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"You're late" Batman all but growled at them. "Make sure that this doesn't become a habit, am I clear?"

"Yes sir." They mumbled dejectedly and stepped into line with their friends. Batman stood in front of them with a stoic expression.

Batman then walked up to the giant screen and began debriefing their assignment. "Yesterday, there was a power surge in the in the coastal town of El Jadida, Morocco similar to the ones experienced when the New Genesphere appeared some time ago." He paused letting to let it sink in.

"Seeing that we do not have any concrete evidence that there is similar technology in the area, this will be an observation mission. If you do locate equipment from New Geneses, you are to confer with me on your next steps." He glanced around the room. "Am I clear?" Kaldur nodded yes. "Alright suit up and be at the bio ship in thirty minutes."

Wally swivelled his chair to go get changed but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Batman with his stoic expression. "Sit this one out." Wally immediately was about to protest when he was cut down by a glare. "That was an order and is not up for discussion."

Wally if possible sunk even further into his seat.

Kaldur seeing Wally's dejected expression walked over to him. "Wally, as much as I would enjoy having you on this mission, you would do much more harm than good in your current condition." Wally mumbled a 'I guess you're right' to keep some dignity rather than fight a losing argument. Though he didn't say anything out loud, his thought rang of betrayal and irritation.

It wasn't fair at all! They were a team. As such, shouldn't they stick together? It shouldn't be the team's call, or Batman's. It was his decision to go or not. He would have to sneak... Wally broke off the train of thought as soon as it started as he knew that sneaking in would be doomed from the start. Red hair and a costume who's colours screamed loud wasn't exactly the stealthiest outfit out there.

He wouldn't be able to even set foot on the bioship in his costume, there had to be a way he would be unrecognizable but still helpful on the mission. The only way they wouldn't recognize him was unless he didn't come as Kid Flash. "_Well I got the powers... now a name."_ Kid Fate? No too obvious. Magic Man. Wow points awarded for stupidity on that one. Then a name popped into his head. Sorcerer Supreme.

Perfect. Now that was a name that was at least half decent. It was catchy and somehow had an air of elegance around it. As for a costume, he'd just copy Nabu's but switch up the colours a little bit. **(AN - I will admit that I got the name from somewhere else so if it is your original name, please forgive and if you want I can take it down)**

It was time for the Sorcerer Supreme to show his face, or in his case, golden mask to the world.

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Wally wheeled over to the Zeta Beam and entered the coordinates to Keystone city. "Recognized Kid Flash B03" the mechanized voice droned. Wally groaned internally. The voice was always the same one, devoid of emotions; it reminded him of Batman too much. Wally reminded himself to ask Robin to bug Bats to change it. The bioship had just taken off into the air to go to their destination. He had been shot so many looks of pity by his team that it was unbearable. At least daddybats gave him space to cope in his situation because pity made him feel weak, or made him feel that he should be, if it made any sense.

"I got over it already" Wally grumbled. "Why is it so hard for them to let go?"

A bright flash of light engulfed him and rearranged his particles on the other end in an abandoned telephone booth. He found himself in the older part of the city where not many people chose to wander. Nothing was really of any interest in the place just a few abandoned buildings and old tourist attractions. But there was always the chance someone could be watching so Wally scanned the area before exiting the small structure. Coast clear.

Wally took a deep breath and stood up. Though his legs trembled it was progress and Wally even took a few shaky steps without falling down. Magic had helped him heal even faster than usual over the past few weeks and was almost at his pristine condition. A few more days and he would be run-. Wally stopped himself they couldn't know, they just couldn't. Yes admittedly, he felt guilty about not telling them, but it was his secret to reveal if he would choose to. If they knew he was already running Barry would be suspicious. The healing was already too fast for a normal human being and even too fast for a speedster.

Wally sighed. It's so hard to keep it under covers. But Wally was sure that one day the team and the league (Save Fate) would find out and that day, Wally hoped was very far away.

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Wally checked the time. It was 8:20 meaning that the team should be nearing the destination in the next ten to fifteen minutes. Wally smiled and his features started to change. His hair darkened to a deep black and grew to about his shoulder length. His eyes turned dark blue and a scar appeared on his cheek. Wally checked his reflection in the glass of the phone booth and grew another two inches. No way in living hell would they be able to tell it's him even if they took the mask off. As for the costume his clothes slowly started to change and morph around his body. A dark silver helmet covered his face as well as a cape that fell to his knees. His arms had greaves that were tapered and the blue body spandex style that Dr. Fate used appeared on his body but in a deep red shade.

Wally regarded himself again and contacted the two magicians with his mind.

The two magicians were in the midst of a conversation when Wally had contacted them. Wally explained his intentions to them and both of them encouraged him on his path.

"Good luck Wallace." Zatara told him "Though we haven't known each other for that of a long time I believe you are the right person chosen and I extend my good wishes to you."

Wally felt both humbled and proud at the same time. "I won't fail you sir."

"Carry on the legacy that your costume represents. Don't fail Fate or me and we both wish you the best of luck."

Wally started to close the connection when he was delayed by Zatara. "Wallace could you do me a favour?" He asked worry evident in his voice. "Please protect Zatanna for she is still not capable of many things she tries. I beg of you."

Wally responded. "On my word I promise I will protect her."

The magician radiated gratitude and said a simple 'thank you'. But it was enough for him.

With that Wally spread his arms wide and disappeared from the dirty alley in a flash of light.

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Wally landed on a small hill about a mile out said town and immediately lay down behind a yellowing bush that camouflaged his presence. He lay there for a few moments unsure of whether he had been spotted or not. Seeing that all was still, he cast his invisibility spell and slowly floated his way towards the village.

The village looked normal at first sight with people moving through the streets and a bustling marketplace. Fisherman had just come back with a haul of fish at the city harbour and entertained each other with jokes. Wally frowned; Batman said that there was supposed to be enemy activity in the area, but all Wally could observe was a typical costal town. But just as he considered going in for a closer look, a bell rang out breaking the relevant calm of the evening. A nearby villager's facial expressions changed from joy to shock, to fear at the clanging noise and immediately made a mad dash to the nearest building. Other villagers did the same. As the last door slammed shut, a group of men with guns walked through the streets wrecking stalls and in general destroying the buildings that were already in a poor state. A small truck drove slowly behind them.

They were all heavily armed and seemed to be part of some rebel group or militia and judging by the arrogant manner by which they walked through town as well as the lack of resistance led Wally to believe this wasn't their first time. Wally still camouflaged slowly floated towards the city careful not to make any noises by which he could alert the enemy with his presence.

Interesting. So the townspeople are like prisoners in their own city, Wally mused to himself. What was he to do? He was about to decide on a course of action when he saw a familiar flash of red jump from roof top to rooftop. So the team had made it. A bit late but they were around somewhere near the city judging how they had sent Rob to scout the village beforehand.

The buildings where very small compared to ones in Gotham and many buildings were crumbling to the ground from lack of care. Robin had finally stopped swinging and took cover behind a ledge. He was invisible to all but Wally who knew Robin's moves and tactics almost as well as his own. Robin dug out a pair of collapsible binoculars from his utility belt and with grim silence observed the unfolding scene. His jaw clenched when he saw the torment the men were afflicting on the villagers who cowered in their shelters hoping that they would make the night.

Robin slinked into the shadows and made it to the outside of town. Wally silently followed Robin until he was led to the rest of the team who huddled in a clump of trees behind a jutting cliff that shielded them from view. Wally followed, still invisible but not too close else he would risk blowing his cover.

"Robin" came Kaldur's calm voice. "What have you found out?"

Robin entered the clearing. "Sadly, not much. It seems the city is under someone's control but I haven't seen any out worldly technology yet. My best bet would be that if there is technology, it's in the truck with all the men. I couldn't risk finding out what was inside, but I managed to place a tracker on it."

Kaldur paused for a moment. "Ok team get ready were going in. Make sure the guards don't see or hear us and disable them if they detect your presence." The team made voiced their acknowledgement and fell silent leading Wally to believe they linked up telepathically. Wally resisted the initial urge to voice his agreement as well and waited for the team to exit the clearing before following them at a safe distance.

The team had been very effective at staying undetected and the three times they stumbled onto a patrol they took them out with speed and grace. Robin crept around the corner of the building the team had huddled behind and relayed the all-go and ran towards the large warehouse the truck had entered. The team looked on at the deserted street while Robin picked the lock to a side door.

The lock snapped open. Robin looked at his wrist computer "Record time" he smirked and the team entered.

Wally floated up to the top of the sunroof and peered in. Three men stood around a table and a fourth stood at the truck with their backs facing the team. Something felt wrong and seemed way too easy of a scenario to be real. Robin crept up behind one of the guards and on a crate Artemis nocked an arrow from her quiver into her bow. Faintly Wally saw how Miss Martian had camouflaged herself and was behind the other two men. By an unspoken command they all sprang forward from their hidden positions and the men shimmered then disappeared. Wally cursed "Holograms!" Why hadn't he seen it before?

A hissing sound broke through the relative calmness of the night and the warehouse started to fill with a green gas. Wally saw panicked expressions on all his teammates as they all tried to distance themselves from the harmful substance.

Artemis was the first to fall unconscious and was soon followed by Zatanna, Kaldur and Superboy. M'gann tried floating above the smoke but as it rose to fill the room she too slumped in defeat. Robin had whipped out his gas mask from his utility belt but had inhaled a bit of smoke as he was the one closest to the majority of the gas when it first started pouring out of the ventilation system. Even from a distance it was clear that Robin was weakening. Wally was about to burst into the warehouse and try to grab his unconscious teammates when the doors flew open and with horror Wally observed the Joker walk in followed by a team of men with breathing gear strapped to their faces.

"Well if it isn't bird-boy and his crew of sidekicks?" The Joker laughed brandishing a heavy crowbar in his hand. Wally flinched at the sight of the weapon and shuddered at the memory of the damage it caused to him. The psychotic clown rushed over to the struggling Robin and hit him repeatedly to the ground whenever Robin tried to get up, singing 'Go to sleep' in a demented voice. **(A/N Joker has an immunity to all toxins so that is why he is unaffected by the knockout gas. It's a true fact)** Wally was restraining himself from rushing into the warehouse and beat the living daylights out of the creep, but there were too many guards in there as well as his unconscious friends who could serve as human shields.

"Alright boys, lets package these kiddies up." The Joker cackled swinging the crowbar a few times through the air. "Once they're secure, we can have some fun" he said with a mad smile on his face. "Especially Bird-boy, it's been a while since someone has clipped his wings. "

The men around joker immediately complied with the order and bound each hero individually and carried them to an outside waiting jeep.

No one messed with Wally's, Kid Flash's or now Sorcerer Supreme's friends, ever. Wally steeled himself for the difficulties that were sure to lie ahead. He would rescue them... at any cost.


	6. Limits

**A/N – Hello people. I deserve death for not updating for the lengths of time that I did but I did sit myself down and finish this chapter, 3400 words for you guys. I am so sorry guys I feel really sorry but I had an operation in the hospital and had to recover. If that wasn't enough the meds made lose consciences and fall down the stairs. Queue another visit to the hospital which by the way had like no place to write. Then I came back home and couldn't keep my food down so a third visit to the hospital was required to monitor my condition in case there were complications with the surgery. So I have had literal hell on Earth and wasn't able to write for quite a while now. There is that combined with good old fashioned writers block and that means no productivity. At all. Then there was catching up at school which I probably should be doing but I'm writing to apologize to all my fans and readers who for some reason enjoy my reading. No but please accept my apology in the form of a chapter, I would love to hear whether you liked this chapter or not. Anyway, I'll try to update more often, and if I am, what story would you like for me to focus on? Do you guys want this story, Normal life, or Never Enough? Anyway please review guys, they make my day and really fuel my writing. I won't be one of those people who say things like 5 reviews till next update, cause that is not fair to you guys or to those who have to read on the go. But if you can and it means the world to me, please leave a message on how you like it. Wow that was a lot to get off my chest. Now on to the story (I wonder how many people read authors notes…) Oh and I really would like a Beta reader, PM me if you are interested.  
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**Warning: Pretty Graphic and dark chapter, so if you are squeamish be careful **

The jeeps that held the team, were well armoured with 50. Calibre machine guns mounted to the top scanning for potential threats. It would be suicide even with Wally's magic to save the team without getting any of them hurt. He would have to find another way to get to them.

Each individual guard was alert and observant, a rare thing to see in hired muscle but nonetheless they posed a large problem for his rescue attempt. The Joker on the other hand was grinning like the cat who caught the canary which, in a way he kind of did. But whenever the Joker passed the mercenaries, they gave him looks of ill-disguised disgust.

"Alright men, bind them down tightly and make sure they can't escape" called the voice of their apparent leader. He gave stern orders and his men always hurried to obey. He had two handguns strapped to his side as well as an AK-47 on his back. His entire countenance demanded respect and obedience.

He walked past the unmoving jeeps who awaited his orders and stopped at the jeep containing Superboy. He reached into his breast pocket and removed a piece of kryptonite which glowed green in the dark night.

"If he wakes up use it. We can't afford any mistakes." All the men nodded in obedience and hurried to their posts, but one of them stood defiantly and dropped his gun to the ground.

"What's going to happen to them after they regain consciousness?" The man asked their leader. Said man turned around and scowled. "They'll be in custody of the Joker, after that I have no clue. We are paid to secure the kid heroes, not ask questions." The leader gestured to the waiting cars. "Now get going, I will not say it again."

"We're just going to leave them in the possession of this deranged lunatic?! They're just kids man, I didn't sign up for this!"

The leader spun around and shot the arguing man in the forehead. The man's corpse hit the ground with a dull thump, a red stain pooling on the ground under him. The leader snapped his fingers and two other men dragged him off the site. Watching the leader lit a cigar and put it in his mouth showing no reaction to the murder he just committed "Well, now you're being let go."

He then spun around to face the rest of the men who fell into an immediate silence. "Does anyone else have questions or concerns they would like to voice?" The men turned mute under his gaze and all murmurings ceased.

He drew in a breath from his cigar and slowly exhaled watching the smoke curl away into nothingness. He then shouldered his weapon and regarded the men standing in silence. "Then get back to work men, I would hate to have to kill any more of you today." All the mercenaries hurried to prepare everything for departure.

Watching the men run to their posts in fear of death put a smirk on the leader's scarred face. "Idiots." He got into his own vehicle and the entire procession began to move.

The roar of the engines cut through the night and beams of light illuminated the small dirt road that wound through town. With a screech the leading jeeps tires gained a grip on the road and shot forward ahead of the pack followed by maniacal laughter. The Joker cackled at the wheel and hit the gas surging ahead of the pack. The mercenaries in the same jeep hung on for dear life. The rest of the jeeps adopted a slower pace following the madman, but the dangerous terrain still required precision and skill to traverse.

Wally had been following them for almost fifteen minutes and was slowly tiring as the events of his hectic day began catching up with him. Wally heard the squeal of breaks and stopped abruptly as the jeeps stopped outside a small shack on the very outskirt of the coastal town. He looked around the barren area. The place looked entirely deserted. His train of thought was cut off as he observed the leader dismount from the jeep and walk leisurely toward the small building. There was no 'abracadabra' or 'open sesame' but rather a simple code that was punched into a well hidden keypad.

The keypad beeped in affirmation of the correct password and was followed by grinding of gears as a long staircase revealed itself. _It must lead to an abandoned mine shaft_, Wally mused silently. The jeeps halted, no longer able to go down into the narrow space.

"Ok, unload them" called the voice of the lead mercenary and each of Wally's teammates was carried into the mine shaft in pairs. In Superboy's case, six people carefully carried him in watching for any signs of struggling.

Confidant the team wouldn't wake up, the rest of the mercenaries began descending into the mine shaft and the door began to close after them. Kid Flash put on a burst of speed and flew in with seconds to spare.

Taking a moment to let his eyes adjust to the complete pitch black Wally waited for a few seconds and slowly began descending into blackness. Noises echoed to Wally from up ahead and what was heard most was the Joker's cackling voice bouncing off the stone walls of the entire complex. Wally murmured a simple spell to enhance his vision and his pupils expanded making him able to see in the otherwise blinding dark.

Wally briefly considered attacking the guards in the dark and make a quick escape, but his friends were still under the guns of the mercenaries who could use them as leverage over him. Wally shook his head as his mind came up with gruesome outcomes that would happen in the event of a mistake or miscalculation.

Wally noticed a dim light ahead and ended his vision enhancing spell to avoid blinding himself as he turned the corner. A long hallway illuminated with kerosene lamps met him with no sign of any guards. The lamps hung off thick wooden columns that where showing multiple stages of decay and the stone walls gradually changed to dirt as he continued walking down the ominous hallway. The old wooden columns groaned and creaked trying to support the weight above. They were obviously old and hadn't been maintained in a long time as many were reaching the end of their life. Most of the lamps' lights were flickering had gone out completely. Wally saw at the end of the shaft was a large room in which the Joker giggled uncontrollably. In front of him stood two huge metal doors that were slowly being grinded open by the combined efforts of twenty or so mercenaries who barely managed to wrench open the entrance. The Joker cackled before gesturing to the team who was now on the verge of waking up.

The guards nodded roughly flinging Wally's friends into the room they just opened. The Joker smiled, "Good luck breaking out brats." With those words he nodded to the men who released the heavy metal doors which closed with a crash. The men stretched and groaned at the relief of the weight and began filing outside the way they had entered. Wally realized with a start that they were heading towards him. He squeezed himself as flat as he could against the wall praying silently they wouldn't notice him. Thankfully the men weren't particularly observant and all walked past without incident. Joker also followed them and just when Wally thought he was in the clear Wally felt an itch in his nose. Unable to control himself to Wally's horror he stifled a sneeze. Joker immediately spun around and stared right at Wally who held himself as still he could. Joker began moving towards Wally and took out his switch blade staring suspiciously around the room. Wally could see the gears grinding in the clown's head as he moved around the room. The green-haired villain was within arm's reach when he finally chuckled and began walking away. "Maybe I am crazier than usual." The clown mumbled before laughing uncontrollably. Wally waited as the laughs grew softer and then ceased completely.

Letting out the breath he was holding, Wally let out a sigh of relief as he examined the situation. The room he was in was very large and really had not much purpose besides allowing access to the large metal doors which his team was currently behind.

The metal doors were too heavy to open with magic and Wally still didn't know how to vibrate through walls with his speed like his Uncle Barry, so he decided to wait for the team come busting out. After a while of no action Wally raised an eyebrow. Something was off.

Wally heard muffled voices behind the door and pressed his ear to the door to try and make out was being said. The voices immediately stopped. Confused Wally pressed his ear into the door harder. The relative silence was penetrated by a loud boom that pushed Wally back and threw him off his feet. Disoriented he raised his head he saw the heavy lead doors slightly dented. He felt a trickle or blood go down the side of his face, he found he couldn't hear from his ear. Worried Wally cast a spell and quickly healed his injury.

_What happened? _Wally wasn't sure, but he was going to find out. Summoning his book of spells Wally found and cast a spell making him able to see and hear whatever was happening on the other side of the door without him being there physically.

His sight came first and what he saw worried him; the team had various expressions of despair, anger and fear on their faces and as Wally's hearing kicked in he heard Joker's voice being played from a speaker in the corner.

"—And you'll never get out. You Robin, will have to die knowing that you have caused the death of all your little pathetic teammates. These doors are invincible and your little Martian cannot phase shift through lead which is one of the densest metals on earth" (**AN- not sure whether this is true or not but let's pretend it is)**.

Superboy yelled and began punching the heavy metal doors and immediately screamed in pain as the skin off his knuckles tore.

Staring at his hands, the team realized how well Joker had planned for their arrival.

The speaker crackled to life with Joker's voice once more. "Aww did little supey hurt himself? It's funny because every inch of the room has a bit of kryptonite dust. Not enough to kill you, but just enough to take away all hopes of escape." Joker's sinister chuckle filled the room and bounced off the small room's walls. "Now Bird-Boy now that you and Archer-Girl used up all of your explosives trying to escape, do you want to know the end-game?"

Robin stood up with a smirk on his face. "This is a game to you Joker; as usual you plan but you never win. This time will be no different."

Joker laughed. "Oh Bird-Boy it almost makes me wish I could stop the bomb and beat you to death myself."

All colour drained from Robin's face. "A-A-A bomb?"

"Oh yes and your date with it is in eight minutes! Whoops! Wait make that seven minutes." His voice lowered into a chilling rasp. "Time flies when you're having fun Birdy. But don't worry; I'll make sure you will never fly again." The transmission cut off and filled the room with static.

An ominous silence entered the room and was broken by an enraged Superboy who attacked the wall again. With every punch he yelled "No! No! NO! NO!" with his voice becoming more and more hysteric and continued punching it until he was pulled off screaming by both Robin and Aqualad.

"Superboy! Stop" Aqualad yelled at the clone.

Superboy stopped and his eyes glazed over as he stared at his now bloody hands. "I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't do it." He mumbled as a tear fell from his face onto his hands. He stared at it in shock and wiped it off his face. To his confusion more began to follow it.

Megan tried to phase shift through the wall but the Joker was telling the truth. They were completely and utterly trapped.

Megan had tears in her eyes as well and hugged Conner's head to her chest and began stroking his head softly. "It's ok Conner, its ok."

Conner seemed to calm down and sat up he put his hand on the Martian's cheek and slowly kissed her. When they separated he took a breath and spoke with a slight rasp. "I'm glad that even if this is the day I die, that you were here and that you were in my life. I love you M'gann."

Megan broke down crying into his shirt. "I love you too."

"I am sorry." Everyone briefly looked in shock at Aqualad who stood up. "I was the team leader-"

"Stop right there. Joker was my villain I should have seen the signs I should-"

Surprisingly it was Zatanna who spoke up who had until that point been silently sitting in the corner after her attempts at large scale magic failed. "It wasn't anyone's fault. There was no knowing about this beforehand and no way in stopping the Joker. His plan was foolproof and he had a strategy; we knew that this day would come where we would probably die in the field. At least we went down defending the weak and fighting against evil. So please, stop arguing. It's not getting us anywhere."

Stunned they nodded and the room lapsed into silence.

"Dick Grayson. My name is Dick Grayson." Robin took off his domino mask showing the team his bright blue eyes.

"You're telling us your Id?" Artemis asked surprised.

Dick hoarsely laughed. "It doesn't matter anymore. There shouldn't be any more secrets. Not now."

M'gann stood up. "I have something to tell you as well." She began transforming into her true self.

The team stood up in initial shock and Aqualad asked, "Why didn't you just tell us? Why did you hide it from us?"

M'gann snivelled and cried, "I thought you were going to abandon me and shun me like the rest."

Aqualad frowned. "Did we really seem so shallow?"

M'gann shook her head, "No it's just I felt I had to show you."

Aqualad smiled despite the morbid situation. "You should have told us before but I am glad you decided that we would be the ones to know this. We are family." He turned to Robin and Superboy. "You are my brothers" and then to M'gann, Artemis and Zatanna. "And you are my sisters." His hand curried into a fist and a lone tear fell to the ground. "I am glad to have served with you my friends. You showed me what it means to be a hero, I can only hope that Wally will be able to get over this and do the right thing."

Artemis had tears in her eyes as well. "Wally will be crushed, he saved me from my father but I ended up here, I wish we had more time."

Wally gasped as he returned to his own body with his team's words echoing in his mind. Reaching out with his mind he yelled for the golden magician. "_Nabu!" _He got no response. "_NABU!" _

Once again the Lord of Order was silent. Wally would get no help from him today. Snapping his fingers Wally's spell book fell into his waiting arms once again and he furiously leafed into the advanced magic section. This section had been warned against by Nabu and Zatara many times. But Wally had no choice if he was to save his friends. He furiously searched page by page until he found a spell for a portal that could safely transport the team away from the bomb. Reading the spell and its conditions, his heart gave a start.

It read: _Preparation: Blood Sacrifice required. Minimum amount 200ml per person transporting._There were no further instructions. Wally swallowed and then steeled himself. _They would do the same for you in a heartbeat. _He quickly counted. Artemis, Supey, Robin, Zatanna, Miss M, Aqualad, Artemis… That's six so… He gulped, that was over a litre of his blood. HIS BLOOD!

No. He had to do this, no matter the pain, no matter the consequences.

Wally conjured an image of a knife with his magic and grabbed around the hilt and felt as the knife materialized in his fist. "Sacrifice for six" Wally told the book. The book glowed red and Wally took it as a sign to begin.

Wally took a deep breath and slowly brought the blade to his skin on his left wrist. He involuntarily shuddered at the feeling of cold steel and what he was about to do. After a couple of seconds he took a deep breath and sliced across his wrist and howled in pain. Blood splashed onto the cool tiles on the floor and Wally had to stop himself from clutching his wrist to stop the bleeding. Taking another shaky breath Wally made another cut a few inches above the first one, he had to resist throwing the knife away and to scream. But Wally just continued making cut after cut until his hand was shaking at the lack of blood and his voice was almost hoarse from screaming. Looking at his feet Wally saw his blood begin to glow red and it floated over his spell book's page. The page glowed and the blood began forming words. _The demand for six beings have been met. If one of your companions is a dark elf, twice the sacrifice amount is required. This spell makes a portal and has to be in front of the one casting it. To cast simply say the words 'aminuel grapide's and the portal will open._

Wally nearly fainted right there from the lack of blood but regained his composure. "_Now is not the time to be weak"_

Closing his eyes Wally chanted a spell which blinked him into the room where his friends were. When he materialized inside he was met with the entire team rushed at him with thier weapons raised. Aqualad was at the front with his sabers at Wally's neck.

Wally put his hands up showing he meant no harm and immediately clenched it in pain from his self-inflicted wounds. Aqualad let out a low menacing growl "Who are you and what do you want?"

He could not afford to fight them with so little time now. "I am here to help!" Gesturing to his arm he continued. "With a blood sacrifice I'll be able to open a portal. So anyone who doesn't want to come is free to stay. Otherwise stand back."

Somewhat in shock Kaldur looked at Robin who nodded and moved out of his way.

Wally pointed his arm at the far end of the room and yelled the incantation. For a few seconds nothing happened, but then all at once a large red portal materialized.

M'gann started to go in but Artemis grabbed her hand. She looked at Wally, distrust was in her entire countenance. "Why should we trust you?"

Wally groaned; this was not the time nor place to have this conversation. "You have no choice but to trust me." And with those words he blasted her and M'gann into the portal Aqualad nodded his thanks and stepped through followed by a grumbling Superboy right after. Robin stood there waiting, "You coming?"

Wally nodded and began to follow Robin into the portal.

Joker's voice came over the speakers. **"Five seconds left!"**

Robin quickly jumped through the portal and turned back. Wally went to step in as well but found that the portal would not let him out!

"**Four"**

"Sacrifice for a seventh person has not been made. Portal is now closing."

Wally heart lurched in his chest. He was an idiot.

"**Three"**

The portal slowly began getting smaller and smaller and Wally could see Robin's panicked face on the other end, his lips beginning to form frantic words.

"**Two" **

The portal had just about closed and was about the size of a marble now. Wally smiled, he had nowhere to run. Defeated he leaned against the wall of the room and slowly sat down.

"**One"**

**A/N – You hate me now don't you ;) please review whether you want the next chapter. Reviews are fuel :D love ya guys **

**-lolmak**


	7. New Encounters

**A/N- Hey guys, just thought I would update before I would start studying for my exams. Don't expect a chapter for about a week and a half after this one. Please review, it's the only reason I was able to crank this one out. And without further ado, enjoy.**

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><p>"<strong>Three"<strong>

The portal slowly began getting smaller and smaller and Wally could see Robin's panicked face on the other end, his lips beginning to form frantic words.

"**Two" **

The portal had just about closed and was about the size of a marble now. Wally smiled, he had nowhere to run. Defeated he leaned against the wall of the room and slowly sat down.

"**One"**

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><p>Time seemed to stop as Wally looked around the room, the dirt walls crumbling, the kryptonite dust glowing a menacing green, the bloody fist prints on the door left by Superboy.<p>

He had won the battle, he saved his friends, and he saved Artemis. It was good enough for him.

Having resigned himself to his fate, he gave a smile and felt a tear go down his face. It wasn't fair but he would face his fate like a man, like a hero…

"Wallace Rudolph West"

A voice resounded through the room. It was calm, soothing even, so Wally naturally asked the first thing that came to his mind.

"Am I dead?"

The voice laughed, and what a laugh it was, it sounded like water running over the landscape. It was bubbly and soothing.

"No my young hero, you are not dead."

Wally glanced around the room to find it wasn't there anymore, his helmet was gone from his face and he was standing on top of a large mountain gazing at a sunset. Some snow from the ground whirled around and materialized into a girl with lush red hair that reached to her back. She had a cloak on which she wrapped tighter around herself and shivered slightly.

"Where—"

The girl turned around, her pale blue eyes filling with sorrow.

"We are in a memory young hero, during a time when all was right." She turned around to gaze at the retreating rays of light.

"You have power and a good heart, I could not let one as you die. So I brought you here. I mean you no harm." Her gaze became more sorrowful as she regarded the distance. "Evil will not allow anything good to remain in this world. Any purity it finds, it immediately snuffs out like a candle before the unforgiving winter wind."

Wally could make out a small village in the valley slowly lighting lanterns in the night. It seemed to be busy and happy, and was bustling with activity. Even from a distance it looked complete.

"I used to live here." The girl whispered softly. "We were good people, we never did anything wrong."

The scene swirled and Wally found himself standing in the midst of the village burning with screaming villagers running desperately from men on horses.

"He commanded them." The girl said with a bitter tone pointing at their leader and Wally gave a start as he recognized a younger Vandal Savage his face free of scars but still complete with the calm calculating aura.

"He killed my parents all those years ago. He showed no mercy" A lone tear fell down her face. "He was going to kill me too. That is when my magic chose to materialize."

Wally saw rushed battle scenes of a young 5 year old girl clashing with the battle hardened warrior and overwhelming him with her sheer will power; their clash tossing up large amounts of earth around them.

"I had him in my mercy and I showed it to him, even when he didn't dare show it to my parents." The girl brushed away her tears. "That day after I had knocked him unconscious I gave him three scars, one for my mother, one for my father and one for me. I lost my innocence that day, I never got it back." Her fist clenched and face contorted in unseen pain.

"I never was the same after that, I wandered the countryside begging whatever food I could get so I would have a next meal. I hated myself for not killing him and I hated myself for wanting to kill him." She touched her face reliving the memory. "I went insane for a little while and that is when Nabu found me."

The scene shifted to a now slightly older girl in a field facing the golden magician. "He didn't scold me or look down on me, he just said 'You have been through much and have great power child. Come with me.'"

She turned to Wally "So I did, and eventually as the years passed I grew in strength and joined the Lords of Order." She looked at him. "He has become different these past 50,000 years and his past compassion has all been but forgotten. But then he met you, a boy who desperately disbelieved in magic no matter how much proof there was. He despised you at first, but when he saw who you really were, couldn't help but admire your courage and bravery. He has chosen wisely to make you his magician. In sixteen short years you have been through much and have made impossible choices. You have dealt with loss, pain and sacrifice just as I have."

She looked him straight in the eyes. "That is the reason I have saved you this day, do not tell me that this is a mistake. I could not let one as you die, I simply could not."

Wally opened his mouth to speak but no words would come out. The information was simply too much for him to process.

The woman waved her hand and in the air and a green portal materialized in the air next to her. The sorceress showed no strain in using the high level magic. Looking at her flawless display, Wally realized that even though he had raw power as a magician he had ways to go before he was to be on any of other magician's levels.

What had happened with Klarion was pure luck and the only reason he had won that day was because of the surprise he had unleashed as well as Klarion being tired out from dragging him into another plane.

Wally realized he would have to get stronger if he was to make any difference in the world. _If my team ever needs me again, I need to be able to save them. _

"Train me." He uttered.

The girl raised an eyebrow at his request. "You will be trained by Nabu." Seeing his pained expression she understood. "You feel weak because you had to resort to such methods to rescue your friends?"

His silence answered for him. She sighed and walked towards him and tenderly grabbed his injured hand and winced as he hissed in pain. "Leah won" was uttered and was met with the mending of flesh. Wally sighed in relief as the pain disappeared.

"Thank you." He bowed his head. "But why won't you train me?" he looked into her eyes pleading.

The girl turned around facing her back to Wally "You have Fate."

Wally walked around her and looked her into the eyes again. "Please."

The girl searched his gaze looking for some ulterior motive but found none. "Fine."

"What?"

"Fine I will train you." His gaze lit up. "I wasn't expecting you to agree so fas—"

"But on one condition." Wally's smile fell. "You don't tell fate. We don't exactly see eye to eye on things as we used to. And though we are both Lords of Order he never saw me as an equal… in many things." Gathering herself she spoke, if you are to become stronger in a shorter amount of time, you must find a familiar who will be able to give and share your mystical energy. I'll leave finding your familiar up to you, I will train you after you and your familiar have bonded." She then waved her hand once again and an identical swirling portal appeared next to the first.

"The left portal will take you home, while the right one will take you to Atlantis who will soon need your help." She stood in the middle of the two and stretched her hands out to either side. "Which one will you choose Sorcerer Supreme?"

Wally immediately went over to the right portal and prepared to go in it. Before he entered he spun around with an apologetic expression. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck "I forgot to say thanks, so thanks, and I never caught your name."

"Lea, my name is Lea." She smiled. "And you're welcome young hero we will meet again."

He shot her a dazzling smile. "Name just as beautiful as the girl I'm looking at." He winked at her. "I look forward to seeing you again. Lea." With that he turned and entered the portal disappearing from her view.

A fierce blush coated her cheeks and she felt her thump chest rapidly. What had happened?

* * *

><p>Wally cursed to himself. Why did he say that? Did he mean it?<p>

_No._ He dismissed the thought, must have been the force of habit. But at the same time he couldn't help but mean what he said. She was gorgeous though… His thoughts were cut off as he plunged under water and immediately gasped at how cold it was. He could breathe (he assumed Lea cast a spell allowing him to do so) and immediately noticed that he was in a cave of some sort.

After taking in his surroundings he swam out of the underwater cave and looked around. Almost immediately he saw lights in the distance and after swimming a bit closer, he saw the city of Atlantis. Its breathtaking architecture drew in his gaze and Wally finally understood why Aqualad spoke of it so fondly. It was beautiful.

Paddling closer to the city Wally observed a gate letting people in and out of the main city. Two guards on either side of the entrance; their eyes scanning the sea of Atlantians swimming by them.

Looking at the average Atlantian, Wally realized his cape and costume stuck out like a sore thumb. Examining a few people from a distance, he transformed his spandex suit and cape into a skin tight sleeveless t-shirt and short pants which hugged his body. After taking a moment to decide the colour, Wally settled for peacock green for his top and a dark green for his pants. Conjuring a small mirror he finished the attire by growing a pair of gills that would then disappear when he would get out of the water.

The tight clothing helped Wally swim through the water with ease towards the gate. He swam in without an incident and neither guard batted an eyelash at his appearance. Wally quickly realized that the style of clothing Atlantis featured had more to do with being useful than fashionable. It greatly reduced the friction of the water and allowed him to glide through the water easier.

Looking back at the two guards he gave another silent cheer and then turned his eyes to take in all the sights Atlantis had to offer. The colours were beautiful and had many murals and sculptures. He would have wanted to explore the place in greater detail after taking care of the problem which Lea told him was bound to happen soon.

Wally saw a multitude of Atlantians animatedly talking to each other in a language he did not recognize. Once Wally thought about it, there wasn't a scrap of English to be heard anywhere. Except…

"STUPID, CARELESS MISTAKES, I WAS THEIR LEADER!" A powerful voice carried over to his ears from a distance. Wally had heard the voice before and an uneasy feeling settled into his gut as he swam towards it. "Kaldur?"

Wally reached the place where the voice was coming from and saw it was some sort of school for magic filled with all sorts of interesting items. It seemed like it would have been a busier place but no-one was practicing. All of the students were looking towards where the voice was coming from and were cringing every time the loud voice echoed through the room. Wally swam past them until he entered a clearing. **(A/N- Think of the place Kaldur first saw Tula and Garth in the episode Downtime) **

There was Kaldur who had both of his water-bearers out of their sheaths and was mercilessly pounding at a rock which jutted out of a large sturdy cliff which looked over the entire area. On the side there stood two people whom Wally assumed were Tula and Garth; the Atlantean friends Kaldur often had spoken about when the team asked him about his home.

Looking on the scene Tula made an effort to go to Kaldur to comfort him, but Garth placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

Wally flinched at the unusual anger displayed by his team leader and realized that it wasn't anger at anyone, rather anger that was being directed inwards. Wally realized that Kaldur had taken his supposed death very personally and wasn't in the right state of mind. Essentially it was his fault that his friend was hurting. Not thinking Wally yelled out to his friend.

"Aqualad calm down!"

Kaldur flinched and stopped mid-blow. He turned and glared at Wally. "Who are you and how do you know the language of the surface world!?"

_Well this is going south real fast. _"I'm alive Aqualad."

Kaldur shook his head. "I do not know you, I have never seen you before in my—"

"I just saved your team from being blown sky high by the Joker and this is the reaction I get?"

Kaldur shook his head and morphed his water bearers into their saber forms. Aqualad narrowed his eyes. "I cannot believe that, you are who you say you are. There is no proof of this fact. Furthermore, if you were the person who saved us you would have wounds on your wrists. As I can see, you have no proof." He turned over to Tula and Garth and yelled something in Atlantean. The two nodded and immediately began bombarding him with magic while Aqualad took the frontal approach and began attacking him with his dual swords.

Surprised Wally backpedaled from the attacks and narrowly dodged the sword swipe aimed at his head. Aqualad would usually have been more cool-headed when handling the situation. Had he been in a normal state of mind, Kaldur would have asked questions or for proof. There was simply no reasoning with him or his friends at this moment but he had to try. Wally raised his hands "I am not your ene—"and swore as two eels made of magic wrapped around his wrists and forced his hands behind his back. Kaldurs friends probably assumed him to be a threat as well due to Aqualad's irrational conclusion. There was no way to communicate with them either.

Wally struggled with the eels and was about to resort to magic when he heard Kaldur's battle yell. Looking up, the last thing he saw was Aqualad's mace accelerating towards his face before being knocked unconscious.

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><p><strong>AN- Thanks for reading guys, I appreciate it. But I want to know whether you guys want spitfire more or if you guys wouldn't mind having a Wally/OC (Lea). If you guys think it will work leave me your thoughts on which one you want more? Do you want Wally and Artemis to be together in the end and do you want more interactions and fluff? Or do you want a more passionate one with him slowly start to fall for Lea which he has a lot in common with (ok not a lot but still he can relate with her) and vice versa. Other than that drop me a review on how you liked the chapter. Do you guys enjoy the way this fiction is going? Is the pace too fast? I want to know so I can improve it for you guys. Other than that, sirs or madams that are reading this have a fabulous and classy day :D **


	8. Atlantis (SYOC info at bottom)

**AN- Hi I am back with another chapter after promising this for a month or more, summer school has been a real pain and no I did not fail anything. Blah blah blah personal life etc. Now onto the good part, where I talk about the story. I managed to squeeze in Lagoon Boy (if he has any fans at all) in this chapter because well frankly I can. Blah blah more boring stuff etc... You're still reading this? Well if that's the case I must tell you that sometimes when my mom isn't home I dig a hole in the garden and pretend I'm a carrot. I wonder how many people will catch that and how many people read authors notes... Ok, I'll stop now. Onto the story! Oh and review please**

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><p>Wally slowly regained his consciousness and opened his eyes. He was lying in a soft bed made of some sort of soft coral in a room with white walls. He was about to close his eyes and drift back to his much needed sleep when he noticed two things. One he was underwater, and two Aqualad was sitting in a chair nearby with a remorseful expression on his face.<p>

Wally's heart gave a start as his team leader spoke. "You are awake."

Wally unsure of what to do flinched and slowly nodded.

Aqualad sighed, refusing to meet Wally's eyes. "I am sorry for my behavior." His fists clenched on his lap. "I was not myself and was not thinking clearly. But that still is no reason for me to have attacked you like that. You have my most sincere apologies."

Wally nodded slowly and his face broke into a smile; he was never one for grudges anyway. "Its ok Aqualad, that's not the most painful thing I have experienced. Though it did sting a little." Wally conjured his mirror and regarded his reflection. For a second he didn't recognize the blond man staring back at him but quickly remembered his disguise.

He winced as he saw the large black and blue bruises adorning his face. Uttering a small spell of healing, Wally sighed with relief as the bruises faded taking the pain with them.

"So you are him!" Aqualad exclaimed jumping out of his seat.

Wally casually shifted his clothes into his Sorcerer Supreme outfit. "I Sure am, nice to meet you. We haven't been formerly introduced; I am Sorcerer Supreme." Seeing Aqualad's hopeful but still remorseful face Wally sighed and placed his hand on his leaders shoulder. "Hey man calm down, everyone on your team is safe and I got out too. So what if you landed a hit or two by accident? It happens. It's in the past and I've forgotten all about it meaning you should too."

Wally saw Kaldur's face soften and slowly turn into a smile before sinking into his chair letting out a contented sigh. "You have no idea how much relief I feel at your return." Kaldur stood and stretched out his hand. "And I would like to formerly invite you to the team. As team leader I believe I could convince Batman to give you a spot."

Wally smiled and grasped his leader's hand but shook his head. "I'm not really a team person… and beyond that Batman gives me the chills." The only response Aqualad gave him was a raised eyebrow. "You will have to do better than that if you want to convince me."

"Hey it's my choice, and you should be convincing me, not the other way around." the gentle smile on Kaldur's face morphed into a smirk. Wally took this as a sign that Aqualad finally got over his guilt and self-blame. Wally continued their playful banter "Is Batman scary though?" Aqualad smirked "At times he is. He scowls at you and you don't know where to run from his gaze. Kid Flash and Robin have dubbed it the Bat-glare."

"Is there a reason you have come to Atlantis Sorcerer Supreme?" Wally slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot, we have pressing matters to deal with. Something is going to happen to Atlantis, I don't exactly know what but a good source told me that my presence would be required to resolve it. Not that I don't want to chat, its just—" Wally's words caught in his throat as a giant shadow fell over the stadium getting closer to the small building they were inside. "Oh, that's what she meant…"

Kaldur not realizing the threat continued talking. "Who is 'she'?"

"Look Out!" Wally pushed Kaldur out of the way as a giant tentacle crushed through the roof and continued to ground where Kladur had stood moments before. Wally shot a small retaliatory spell of magic at the large limb and was shocked when it seemingly had no effect on the giant monster.

Aqualad got off the ground and his eyes widened in recognition "That is a temian snare! Don't get caught or it won't let go to the point of death." He swam up Wally and unsheathed his swords from the pack on his back. "They only grow up to 4 inches at most, how did it get to this size?"

Wally narrowed his eyes "Magic." Aqualad's shocked face transformed into one of anger. "So this is not a freak of nature, rather an attack." He readjusted his grip on his weapons and made preparations to charge the monster. Wally grabbed his arm, "What are you planning to do?"

"Hit its weak spot on the underside of its belly where the tentacles come out of. That is the only known way to kill a temian snare, anything else will just cause it to regenerate at impossible levels becoming stronger. Its tentacles have sharp suckers on their bottoms, while it has suction cups, they are only need to keep its prey in place before sucking it completely of its blood." He shuddered. "The ones found in the wild are rare and considered a delicacy. Many chefs have lost the use of their arms in the preparation of this animal. These tentacles that we are facing can easily be fatal and suck out the blood even faster.

"The only way to escape would be to sever the tentacle before it starts feeding." He made the motion of a cut across his forearm. "Or to sever the limb it has caught."

Wally blanched at the image but shook it off quickly and prepared his spells. At least let me help you by providing support from afar. I can shield you."

Aqualad shook his head as the monster continued destroying the many buildings some distance away. "No. You almost died twice by my hand in the last 24 hours. You have done enough." Aqualad was about to swim off to fight the monster alone when he heard a low growl, "Don't give me that self-sacrificial shit Aqualad, I'm not going to die and neither are you so let's go" and Wally swam past his leader without another word. Wally thought he saw; though it may have been a trick of the light a small smile on his leader's face as he passed him.

**YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ**

Wally and Kaldur swam closer to the monster and saw a clump of palace guards attacking the beast, being hit away or being grabbed by its large tentacles left and right. The guard's numbers were dwindling down into the single digits from the entire platoon that had been dispatched judging by the amount of bodies littering the area.

"Here eat this." Wally turned around to see Kaldur holding a small plant to him. "What is it?"

"This plant, when enchanted allows you to understand our language for a limited amount of time. It is usually used when dealing with tourists, but now you might need to be able to communicate with other Atlanteans for us to overcome this beast."

Wally nodded and without another word shoved the plant into his mouth and nearly spit it out due to its harsh metallic taste." As Wally grimaced while swallowed the plant Kaldur apologized, "Usually the plant is processed removing the taste but we have no time to do that."

Wally touched his ears in wonder as slowly the Atlantean shouts faded into recognizable words and exclamations as they swam closer to the action.

The leader of the platoon stood near the beast and had a large bushy mustache that covered his entire face. He yelled out orders to his men to fight despite the fear shown on their faces.

"Save the civilians at all costs! Don't let that monster get near our homes and families!" turning to a cowering soldier near him, he yelled in a booming voice, "Where are my damn reinforcements?!"

The soldier swallowed and answered, they are making sure the other sectors as safe Sir. Once they are sure of their own sector's security they will come to us. We need to hold out till they can come or until our esteemed king can make it here himself sir!"

At that moment Wally and Kaldur finally swam up. Kaldur went up to the captain who saluted him and surveying the situation at hand. After a moment of consideration he addressed the bearded captain. "Captain take your wounded and leave, this is now our battle." The man nodded quickly not wanting to be in the hell-filled battle anymore. "Retreat! Good Job Men you have done your country proud! Now fall back if you no longer have the will to fight or cannot!" A flurry of Atlanteans swam off leaving a small group of 4 teens.

A strange green humanoid with tattoos stepped forward from the group "We wish to fight for our country while there is still breathe in our gills." The other three teens nodded in agreement with stony expressions.

Aqualad saw the teens and smiled, "As do I. Atlantis would be honored to have you; La'gaan and the rest of the students from the conservatory of magic to fight for her. La'gaan you will be with me at the center of the battle, we aim for the core. The rest of you join the Sorcerer supreme with long distance support magic."

The teens hurried to obey Aqualad's orders without hesitation and now stood beside Wally readying their arsenal of spells for the upcoming battle. The first spell to be cast was by the smallest teen in his group who shot a shower of golden sparks in the air temporarily distraction the monster from his rampage in the small town area. A second set of sparks a bit further towards the arena followed the first coming from the taller teen next to him with two pincers in place of hands. Not to be outdone Wally also sent his spell in the same fashion. Entranced the large beast began following the sparkles and the magicians slowly lead the beast away from the populated area.

Finally, once the monster was in open water, they commenced their attack.

Kaldur and Lagoon Boy as he was called swam straight towards the center of the beast where the tentacles emerged. The tentacles writhed eagerly at the prospect of easy prey and converged on Aqualad. _They will be crushed!_ But his thoughts were cut off as the humanoid's tattoos glowed and the skinny teen expanded with monstrous arms and legs meant for crushing. Wally understood why Kaldur wanted La'gaan by his side, the now large team swatted away any tentacles that came close to them while Wally and his group supported them from the tentacles he couldn't see or defend against.

Spell casting as a group Wally found was easier to do than individually, as he seemed to lose less energy per spell and had an added boost power in his attacks. Wally stored this information away for later, resolving to ask either fate or Lea when he has the chance.

Wally and the three teens shot strong blasts at tentacles that were getting too close to their fighters who temporarily would temporarily be stunned, only to get attack harder the next time they entered the action. Occasionally there came the situation where the group of magicians needed to give their fighters a shield to protect against incoming damage.

It often involved a last second block of near fatal damage, so protecting Kaldur and La'gaan from these strong attacks in this manner was exhausting to put it nicely.

It overall was an effective protection and attack system but it wasn't enough.

The beast gave no reaction to the Kaldur and La'gaan's attacks and seemed far more annoyed with the two Atlanteans than anything else.

The defense and offense groups were slowly running out of options as time wore on and the spells that were needed to defend their front-line fighters started coming in faster and faster due to the amounts of threats increasing. Needless to say this put a large strain on their magical reserves of energy and they would run out very soon if they continued at this pace.

Kaldur meanwhile was in hell as he tried to get closer to the giant beast's core through the mass of tentacles that never seemed to get any weaker. The more he and La'gaan tried to break through the barrier of fishy flesh, the harder it seemed to dent, even with his and Lagoon Boy's enhanced abilities.

Seeing how their current method wasn't working, some distance away, Wally and the mages had set up a magic cannon which was a device that allowed a group of mages to combine and aim spells. Its purpose was often used to find weaknesses of an obeject. A magical barrier or in this case the hide of the beast could be immune to lightning and fire individually, but could be venerable to a combination of the two, or more if need be. That was one of the rules of magic Wally had learned in his apprenticeship with Dr. Fate called the law of inherent weakness: every object that exists has a weakness and therefore a balance that could be restored. So now, the improvising group of magicians prayed that by luck the correct combination of spells could be found in time.

Aqualad and La'gaan were both faring poorly. Lagoon boy had been caught in a large tentacle that was slowly constricting around him. He started screaming as the pressure around him slowly began to increase. The suckers could not pierce his magic enhanced skin yet but when the teen's magic ran out, death would be imminent.

Aqualad abandoned his attack on the tentacles covering the entrance to the beast's weakness and rushed to help his struggling friend. What he didn't notice was a smaller tentacle that crept up behind him; out of his line of sight that wrapped around his leg. He felt a piercing sensation and felt his blood being drained at an alarming rate. He was going to try and get the tentacle off his leg when he felt a burst of shock crying out in pain as another tentacle hit his head.

Dazed Kaldur closed his eyes and muttered an apology to his king, his country and his friends as more tentacles rushed in for the kill. Blackness began to dot around his vision and Kaldur was about to close his eyes and surrender to the darkness when he heard a cry of jubilation. A combination of spells had completely burnt through the monster's limb which used to be wrapped around his leg. Aqualad tentatively wiggled his toes and sighed in relief as his body responded. There would be no permanent damage, though it would hurt for a while. The useless tentacle flopped to the sandy seabed no longer connected to its master. Another burst of magic demolished the rest of the tentacles encompassing him. Kaldur saw another burst of light and looked up to see La'gann free of his prison as well rubbing his aching body. The group of magicians began preparing a large blast of the newly discovered combination magic into the beast's protective shield of its core.

Kaldur nodded understanding their plan as he clashed his two water bearers together locking them into one unit. A longer more powerful singular sword emerged out of the tip and crackling with energy. It was strong enough to make the decisive blow to the core that Aqualad needed to finish the monster once and for all.

The magicians then unleased the beam that completely obliterated the mass of flesh around the temian snare's vital spot. Kaldur blanched at the sight that greeted him. The core in usual snares resembled something similar to that of the human brain, but what Kaldur did not expect was odd bits of machinery that pulsated with magic around the vital organ.

Kaldur shook his head clearing his head of any thoughts and filled his head with the sole purpose of ending the beast. He held his sword over his head and charged the core yelling "ATLANTIS" at the top of his lungs. He pierced the entire thing; machinery and all, in one final blow.

The snare immediately lost control of its multiple tentacles that now flopped to the ground lifeless. The humungous body crashed to the arena floor seconds later.

And then silence.

The smallest teen fell to the ground unconscious as the full effect of the battle began to set in and Wally and the other two magicians sat down before they would do the same. Wally breathed a huge sigh of relief and lay unmoving, his chest heaving to recover his energy.

Seeing them safe Aqualad smiled and moved forward. However he hissed when he stepped on his injured leg. Before he was going to fall he was caught by Lagoon Boy who gave one of his rare genuine smiles. "Kaldur'ahm we won."

Kaldur smiled at their victory and with his friend's help struggled into a standing position to face the group that was now recovering from the battle on the ground. "We have won the battle and Atlantis is safe and it all was made possible through your combined efforts. You have made me and your country proud."

"And your king is proud of you as well" said a deep voice behind them. They turned to see Aquaman with his wife Mera smiling proudly at them. Immediately the Atlanteans fell to one knee followed by Wally doing the same.

"Rise heroes. Your deeds have saved the lives and homes of countless people. Your deeds shall be recorded into our art and history. You have taken upon an impossible task and succeeded. I am proud of you my apprentice." He said to Kaldur who bowed his head in response. Turning to the rest of them he continued. "And to you magicians, may you continue in your path, I sense great things from you in the future." And finally his eyes landed on Wally, "I have not seen this costume before, though it bears semblance to another magician I know on the surface world, but you also have my thanks for protecting my people when I could not."

Wally inclined his head "I am honored King Orin.", said king's eyes widened momentarily at a foreigner knowing their language before recognition set in. "You gave him the travelers plant Kaldur'ahm?"

"Yes my king."

Aquaman satisfied with the situation now turned to the small crowd that was gathering filled with his army and civilians alike. He took a deep breath and spread his arms.

"Gather the dead and prepare their burials, do not be ashamed to see your tears flow on this harsh day my people. But the dark has passed over and it is now time for the new day. The dawn has come! We will mourn and rejoice this day for our kingdom's safety and the brethren who fell insuring that." His eyes regarded his people who stood battered, yet clinging to his every word. He continued. "We stand tainted by this evil but we have not been defeated. Not this day, not the next!" A single tear was shed by the king of Atlantis unseen by many, telling of his heart suffering for his people. But he had to be strong for them, especially today with the loss of life and friends. "Today we will mourn but tomorrow we shall honor the deceased with feasting and celebration. LONG LIVE ATLANTIS!" He gave the yell after his speech and was echoed back from country men who erupted in cheers and mix exclamations of joy and sadness.

Wally witnessed this and slowly began to slip away from the festivities, his job here was done. He walked until he found a secluded area and began readying to teleport. He was interrupted by a group of voices. Wally turned to see Kaldur swimming towards him with his two friends trailing after him with guilty expressions similar to the one Aqualad had worn a small time ago. The girl, Tula immediately burst into a babble and began waving her hands with an expression of shame on her face and Wally realized he could no longer understand her. He conveyed to Kaldur who scratched his head and then translated his friend's combined apologize to Wally who waved them off in the same manner he had with Aqualad before.

After promising to visit multiple times, he was finally free to leave. Wally slowly charged his spell and saw his surrounding slowly fade away and materialize into his beloved bedroom.

Wally promptly took a shower barely feeling the water and fell into his bed exhausted with the day's events.

As the dregs of sleep threatened to overtake him Wally suddenly remembered the wheelchair he had left at the telephone booth where he had departed on the mission.

Needless to say Wally let loose a few choice curse words that would make a delinquent blush and slept like rock till the following morning.

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><p><strong>AN- So what did you guys think? Its a pretty long chapter just for you :D As I stated before on my previous chapters I will not ask for a certain number of reviews to do the next chapter. However it would be nice to get some feed back on this as well as for some ideas for where this fanfiction should go (I lost my thinking cap, I'm sorry) I am open to suggestions and if you have a good way to break the fact that Wally has magic to the team or even some magical related missions for the future, I will do my best to consider them. Next chapter probably won't be so action packed rather will probably have Wally finding a familiar of some sort which btw I would like some realistic suggestions for (for example, i really doubt Wally would bond to a unicorn (though i see the potential) or a sheep (Though it would be funny as hell, I'd probably name him Carl in that case after Carl from Llamas with hats)) so please submit an animal of your choice (not too crazy :P) to bond as well as a name, power and character traitback story. Since im asking for your OC to be his familiar, feel free to go crazy, but not too crazy. Sorry for the long author's note and hope you enjoyed the chapter. (leave a review please :P) See you soon when i have his familiar figured out with your help. Have a wonderful day (or night... depends you know?)**

**-lolmak **


	9. Familiar Feelings

**A/N- Hey guys I'm back and not dead, it's been a while since my last chapter, but not as long as other breaks have been. I want to thank everyone for their ideas for Wally's familiar, it really helped me writing this. I also want to thank everyone who has given me ideas for the future and know that I still need ideas on where this story is to progress. Thanks for the support guys and without further ado, here is chapter nine :D**

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><p>Wally stirred from his sleep and slowly opened one eye. He blinked at his surroundings and saw he was in his room at home under his comfortable covers. Considering nothing was jumping at him or trying to kill him, Wally was about to shrug it off and continue with his well-deserved sleep when he saw his alarm clock was showing Monday as the day of the week and the time read 9:22. Wally jumped up in a panic and shrugged his blanket off. The events of the past day caught up with him and he realized three things. First, he had been gone from home for at least a day and a half without his parents being aware of his absence. Two, today was a Monday and Mondays meant school. And three, his wheelchair was still in the stupid alleyway he had left it in the day before.<p>

Cursing Wally flew into a panic and immediately got everything he needed ready for school and hastily brushed his teeth before making his bed. As he hastily threw his school work into his bag, Wally furiously ran his comb through his hair trying to get rid of his bed head. Satisfied he had everything ready for school even though he would be late for first period anyway, Wally teleported to the alleyway and sighed in relief as he saw his wheelchair sitting next to the phone booth in the same condition he had left it in. Grabbing it, Wally teleported back to his room where he sat into it to keep up appearances with his family. Wally quickly wheeled himself to the door and after some difficulty opened it.

What Wally wasn't expecting to see was his dad leaning against the door frame.

Wally collected his wits and realized his father had an angry look on his face. "Um, hey dad. I'm going to go downstairs for breakfast." He wheeled around his father trying to avoid a confrontation. Wally gave a sigh of relief as he neared the stairs when he heard his dad speak.

"So son, how are your legs?"

Wally froze. "They still hurt a bit, but I think I should be fine in about a week. Maybe I'll start running soon. Well walking first I guess." _That was pretty believable right?_

"Wally stand up." _Shit he knows! Maybe I can play it off_

"Dad, why do you think I'm in a wheelchair?" _Humor might work, that's pretty normal of me right? Please just drop it, please just drop it._

Wally's father walked in front of him and stared him into his eye. "Then tell me Wallace." Wally flinched at the use of his full first name, he knew he was in trouble now. "Tell me how you got up these stairs to your room when you need a wheelchair. Your mother and I set up your bed in the guest room on the first floor specifically because you couldn't use the stairs remember? Now don't make me repeat myself again. Stand up, you're busted."**(A/N- No Wally's dad is not abusive, I kind of see him as a strict but loving father. The reason he is angry is well, his son hasn't been home for a day and a half, I think any parent has the right to be mad if something like that happens)**

Wally's face drained of its color, he had forgotten all about their guest room. His mom and dad had set it up so he wouldn't have to climb the stairs in his state, by his request no less. Defeated Wally slowly stood up, and his dad exploded in a fury of words.

"Where were you!?" Wally nearly fell back into his chair. "Your mother was worried sick about you. She wouldn't leave for work until I told her that I would take the day off and wait for you at home. We gave you a curfew and there were the instructions to call if you were going to be late. These were the conditions we set and agreed on. I mean, I could understand maybe a few hours late, but an entire day?! Wait, were you with Artemis?" Wally became confused, what did Artemis have to do with this? _Wait he doesn't think-_ "When I met her, she didn't seem like the type of girl who would let you stay over at her house for the night after only dating you for a few weeks. And while you were out being young, wild and stupid, us parents waited the entire night for you to come, not sure if you were dead lying in some ditch." Wally blanched. _This is going south, fast._

"And another thing. Barry said you would be in this wheelchair for another week. How are you up and about so soon if you share the same healing factor and he is stronger than you are?"

Wally opened his mouth but his dad raised one eyebrow. "I can tell you are about to lie, you're avoiding my eyes and your eyebrow is twitching." Disbelief showed in Wally's eyes as he looked at his father who only shrugged. "You are my son and I love you. But do not lie to me Wallace remember that." He turned away from Wally. "I will wait for you tell me, but you are grounded until you do." Wally's dad started to walk away before his son's voice stopped him.

"Wait dad. I wasn't with Artemis, I wasn't even in this country. I-I Just don't tell anyone about this. Especially the league or Batman. Please."

His father raised his eyebrow. "Are you involved in something illegal?" Wally shook his head.

His father relented "Fine, I'm listening, but I will decide whether Flash should hear about this or not. Wally accepted it knowing there was no avoiding the conversation that was about to happen. If he remained silent right now his father would probably lose trust in him, as well as tell his uncle, who in turn would tell Batman who eventually would end up interrogating him one way or another. Wally decided to give his dad the entire story.

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><p><strong>YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ<strong>

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><p>"So that's how it happened" Wally finished and looked at his father trying to gauge his reaction. He had told his father most of the details starting with how he got the powers, how much they had grown since then, as well as his two missions, he even gave a small demonstration as proof. His father stood up, took a deep breath and then smiled. "So magic huh? Did the team have a big laugh about that?"<p>

Wally sighed in relief as the atmosphere in the room lightened significantly. "Actually the team doesn't know. I'm hiding it for the element of surprise."

"Surprise?"

Wally nodded. "Word has it, we have a mole on our team. Though we cleared the team's names of suspicion, there are still members of the League and close affiliates of it such as doctors, surgeons, personnel who still are suspects." Wally let out a breath and smiled at his dad. "Something like this is best kept under wraps for now."

Wally's dad nodded in understanding. "Even though you saved your friends as well as an entire country in a day and a half, you are still grounded for a week for making me and your mother worry. You may have a valid excuse but just be glad it isn't a month kiddo." Wally began to protest but was stopped by a pointed look by his father. "Wally I must say I'm proud of you and the sacrifices you give for your friends. Next time however call us about it first if you are going to be late."

Wally stood up from the chair he was sitting on and fell back as his father's head poked into the room from outside the doorway. "Speaking of being late, you still can make it to the second half of school on time even if you eat breakfast. I'll write you a note to explain your absence and lateness."

Wally's smile faltered a little at the mention of school but resolved to do the best he could in his condition. "Fine, can you drive me then?" His dad nodded and began preparing breakfast.

After they finished eating Wally took his wheelchair to the first floor and made an effort to look like he was still hurt so people at school would not be suspicious. His father nodded approvingly and then they both made their way to the car. The drive there was short and uneventful and mostly consisted of small talk about how the Star City Wolves were doing in basketball and to Wally's embarrassment how things were going with Artemis. Before he knew it, Wally was back in front of his high school.

Waving to his father as he drove off, Wally wheeled his way up the handicap ramp and wheeled down the hallway. It was full of kids who were talking animatedly about their weekends. _Figures, its lunch time right now. _Wally wheeled past many of them ignoring their blatant stares at his condition and was about to head to his classroom when he heard a booming voice. "Hey Wally, it's been waaaaaay too long." Wally's face morphed into one of anger as a large jock bounded towards him and cuffed him not too softly on the back of his head. "Hey Wally aren't you glad to see us again?" These words were followed by the rest of the beefy football team grouping behind their leader who smirked stupidly at him. **(A/N- I know its cliché for the football team/jocks to be bullies as well as making them unintelligent, but frankly I was too lazy to find anyone else)**

"No Brandon, I don't find any joy in seeing you. Now if you'll excuse me-" Wally tried to wheel away from the group but was stopped by Brandon putting his foot into his path. The leader grinned and then punched Wally in the stomach. Wally gasped as the air left his lungs and his face contorted in pain. The rest of the jocks smiled and hit him too. Brandon walked up to him and pulled his hair up until their eyes were level. "Now that you are back Wally, we have some homework that needs doing." He puffed up his chest and his gorillas just grinned stupidly.

Wally smiled despite the pain. "Why, cause you guys share one brain amongst yourselves?"

It took a moment to register as an insult. Brandon sneered and curled his fist "Get him guys." And his team began pummeling him. Wally's vision began getting blurry and the more they hit him, the more a certain scene with the Sports master came to mind. Wally wildly swung and was surprised as his fist connected to Brandon's chin who fell like a rock. A moment of silence overcame the group as they regarded their leader which was quickly replaced by anger as they moved towards Wally again.

"STOP IT THIS INSTANT!" rang out the clear voice of Mr. Pomakov, the schools English teacher. **(A/N- a tribute to one of my favorite teachers of all time and yes he teaches high school English- you rock Pomakov! (and as a side note, no I have not been bullied (due to taking boxing lessons ftw), but I stand against people who practice it)) **The teacher walked up to the group and glared the football team into submission. Brandon held his gaze for a few moments longer before looking away in grumbling "This at the very least deserves a suspension." The teacher growled out. "I'm pretty sure this hasn't been the first time you guys have done this to someone, and you are lucky that no other students has come forward to us teachers. Would you have an idea why Brandon?" Wide-eyed Brandon shook his head while giving a not so subtle glance to the rest of his gorillas to remain silent. The teacher pushed Brandon towards the office "Now march."

The team glared but complied with the order and began following the teacher. One of them tried to slip away unnoticed but was stopped by the English teacher's loud voice. "Brock, if you know what's good for you, you won't try that again." Wally grinned, sometimes he swore that his teacher had eyes on the back of his head. As the rest of the group walked past him one of the jocks stopped and made a fist. "After school West, you are dead, wheelchair or not."

Needless to say Wally was not looking forward to the end of classes.

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><p><strong>YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ<strong>

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><p>The ending bell had rung and Wally hurried to the entrance hoping to get picked up by his father before the football team would find him. It wasn't that Wally feared them or anything, hell Wally kicked the snot out of trained criminals and Superhumans. Next to them the football team was a field of daisies. <strong>(AN- weird and irrelevant comparison I know) **But it was getting annoying to deal with them day after day and having to keep his superhero identity safe. Today however luck wasn't on his side as Wally got a text from his father.

**Emergency at work. Had to take care of it. Wheel home, dinners on the table. Will be home probably after 11pm – Dad.**

Wally swore silently as a shadow was cast over him. Looking up he saw the furious football team who all but dragged him into the nearby park. There they entered a small forest and once hidden behind the cover of trees gave him a beating until he was black and blue all over. Panting slightly they gave him a few more kicks as well as a warning. "You don't mess with us West, you remember that." and then, the group left the small woods as if nothing had ever happened. Wally groaned and opened his eyes to see a small creature staring back at him. Wally gave an unmanly shriek and backpedaled away from it. He expected his reaction to scare the animal away but the animal simply looked at him.

Wally at that moment realized three things. One the animal was a ferret, a cute one too. Two it had really sharp looking teeth; cute factor suddenly flew out the window. And three it was slowly moving its lithe body closer to him. Wally now filled with curiosity observed the animal with a tinge of awe and fear as it moved closer. It had a long black body that was about the length of his forearm and had a small white tail that wagged similar to a dog. It had a few splotches of white around its body most noticeably on its face splitting the color evenly down the middle. Wally found it amusing that the markings were similar to a notable villain in Batman's Rogue Gallery. **(A/N- If you don't know who it is, you probably shouldn't be reading a Young Justice fanfiction)** Wally's thoughts were interrupted when he felt the ferret brush against his hand and he jerked it away as if stung. The ferret looked at him questioningly and then jumped onto his lap and curled up.

Wally froze and then slowly placed his hand on the ferret who let out an exited chirp and then relaxed into his touch. A smile graced Wally's face. "Hey little fella, are you-" the words froze on his tongue as a burst of blue energy began to stream out of the animal and white energy began to flow out of him. The two energies collided together and Wally's teeth began to chatter with the amount of raw magic in the air around him. The ferret also had a look of fear and began to chirp rapidly. The light brightened to unbearable levels before disappearing with a small popping sound.

Wally felt something brush against his conscience, like a tendril of thought which slowly solidified into a connection. The magic in the air had dissipated somewhat and Wally felt stronger somehow, the chirps from the ferret were slower now and Wally with a start realized that they began to resemble words. "Shoulda known not to eat those mushrooms, and what the hell was up with those lights?" Wally nearly fell backwards from shock, he could understand the ferret!

"Um hello?" Wally tried and immediately flinched when the ferret turned to look at him its fangs bared at him slightly. "You can talk?" Wally shook his head, this really was happening; he was having a conversation with a ferret. "I think so, what happened? Why can I talk to you?"

The ferret looked at him and then its face broke out in understanding (if such an expression could be expressed on the face of an animal) "I'll give you three guesses genius." Wally was confused as he wracked his brain for answers, "I really have no clue." Slightly miffed, the ferret jumped off his lap and faced him. "We have bonded. I am your familiar."

Realization flooded Wally's mind, he remembered his conversation with Lea a few days back. He was shook out if his thoughts as the ferret jumped into his lap and curled up again. "My, my you are so soft and relaxing. I could get used to this." Wally was confused "Um so how does this bond thing work? All I know is that I will get more powerful" The ferret shrugged. "I don't know either, it's never happened to me before." Wally was getting annoyed by the lack of answers. "How do you know about familiars in the first place then?" The ferret shrugged "Some of us animals are born with the capability to bond with a magician. If you had tried to bond with another animal, it probably wouldn't have worked. Familiars and their magicians are meant to complement each other so that their magic can grow together. We are born with this knowledge." Wally blinked "You have magic too?" The ferret yawned and lay down. "Of course, all living things have it, just not all know how to use it. Same with you humans. "It blinked. "You are human right?" Wally nodded, "Anyway, since we are going to be bonded we might as well get to know each other right?"

The ferret nodded. "My name is Vincent Abraham Wayne Thomas Batson, you can call me Vince for short." **(A/N- No Wayne Thomas is not named after Bruce's dad (Thomas Wayne) but rather Wayne Thomas Batson is one of my favorite authors, and though I was very tempted to name him Bob due to a suggestion, I settled for a long and complicated name because I can :P) **There was a few moments of silence before Wally realized his familiar was waiting for him to introduce himself. "Oh Uh, Wally, Wallace Rudolph West is my full name but call me Wally." The ferret nodded "Now that we introduced ourselves there is something very important that must be done."

"What is it?" Wally asked in anticipation as he leaned closer.

"Feed me." Wally groaned, they were more alike than he would wish to admit. "Fine, but we have to get back to my house ok?"

"Fine, but one question. What is that infernal metallic contraption?" The ferret—Vince gestured towards his wheelchair with his head. Wally sighed. "It's a long story, I'll tell you later when we're at my house, but for now we have to remain inconspicuous and frankly a kid with a ferret will draw way more attention than I want." Wally zipped open his bag and Vince cautiously stepped in and Wally closed it. "An air hole would be nice."  He heard his familiar growl and Wally created a small gap to let air into the bag. "Better"

Wally sighed, life sure had a way to make his life interesting and difficult at the same time. "I heard that human, now go get me some food, I'm sure that won't be too difficult for you." Wally groaned, why couldn't his familiar come without the attitude? Shrugging Wally remounted on his wheelchair and began the arduous journey back home. **(A/N- Arduous because he is still bruised a bit and it probably hurts to move even if he is on his wheelchair)**

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><p><strong>AN- Well I have decided to end it there, because frankly I don't want to write Wally eating and what not. Thank you to everyone who dropped by a review for last chapter and sorry for the delay since last chapter. As for Wally's familiar I chose a ferret because they are known as really fast, energetic and fun loving. Also the fact that I had three people suggest it. It just fits Wally so well. Other suggestions included a dragon (I wish) but I couldn't because even though a kid with a ferret isn't inconspicuous, it's still somewhat believable and well a dragon frankly is much more questionable. I had suggestions for a fox (Somehow I picture a fox as smooth and graceful, Wally, not always), a cat (I hate cats (allergies + dogs are better in every way (I wonder how many people are going to stop reading after I say I dislike cats on the internet) and Klarion has one so I want some originality for Wally, not a cut and paste), a raven (They kind of have a dark reputation), a hawk (Wally can't fly though D:), as well as an elemental spirit (Interesting, but I don't know how to write a personality for one). It's not that these are bad ideas, it's just that they all have something that makes them not work, at least personally for me as the author. Don't be offended my dear readers, I would bond him to all of them if I could, but the ferret just worked. Thanks again for reading and please review and leave ideas, the only reason I can write this fiction is because of your support guys. **

**Shout outs to: Golden Eagle 603, PuppetMaster55, thee-cats-meow, MusicLoverBLD as well as the Guest (log in next time please :D) for leaving kind and helpful reviews. Don't hesitate to review and/or ask questions for me the author, whether about the story or me.**

**Thanks guys! Until next chapter :D PS- Review!**

**-lolmak**


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